Here's why Madison Keys hopes she won't get a text from Frances Tiafoe before Australian Open final

Madison Keys has no doubt been bombarded by messages of congratulations and encouragement by family, friends, and fans alike during this Australian Open as the American has advanced to her first Grand Slam singles final in eight years.

But there's one person that Keys hopes she won't be hearing from before she steps into Rod Laver Arena to face Aryna Sabalenka for the women's singles title on Saturday night in Melbourne: her good friend and fellow American Frances Tiafoe.

Don't worry: They're still tight. She's just superstitious.

"We have this kind of joke where in the past he wouldn't say anything pre-tournament or anything, and then he would text me, like, in the quarters or the semis or something, and I would lose the next round," Keys said before toppling Iga Swiatek in a dramatic semifinal match where she saved match point.

"So we have this new rule. Like I saw him a few days ago, and I said, 'Don't text me, I don't want to hear from you at all, just leave me alone and we'll talk after the tournament.'"

But chatting with her good buddy isn't the only routine that Keys has changed to start 2025. Long resistant to trying new things as it related to her tennis career, she says, she began this season with a new service motion and a new racquet, among other tweaks she made with husband and coach Bjorn Fratangelo.

Read more: Madison Keys—with a new racquet, serve and attitude—is into her first Australian Open final

"Obviously I'm at the later point of my career," the soon-to-be 30-year-old confessed after beating Swiatek. "It just kind of felt like, why not, however many more years I have, be willing to adapt and be a little bit more open to change?

"I think doing that is a little bit freeing because I think for a really long time I felt like I was so close doing it a certain way. I kind of just kept falling short. But in my head it was, If I just keep doing it that way, maybe it will happen. I started putting a lot of pressure on myself within that, and I probably just got a little too rigid not wanting to change because things were good enough for close and all that."

As she hopes to reverse two of her most famous "almosts"—her 2017 US Open final defeat to Sloane Stephens, and a heartbreaking 0-6, 7-6(1), 7-6(5) semifinal loss to Sabalenka in Queens six years later—in the final in Melbourne, Keys might have finally unlocked the best version of herself.