Madison Keys Reveals Her Husband Was 'Uncomfortable' To Tell Her What To Do As Coach
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Madison Keys' husband, Bjorn Fratangelo, had to get used to being her coach, as she recently revealed.
There are many couples around the Tour. Paula Badosa and Stefanos Tsitsipas are probably the most recognized tennis couple by many tennis fans, but there are many others.
For example, Alex de Minaur and Katie Boulter are seen supporting each other quite often. Denis Shapovalov and Mirjam Bjorklund are another couple, and Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils are already married.
Keys and Fratangelo got married during this off-season. In her first major as a married woman, Keys won her maiden Grand Slam title after beating Aryna Sabalenka in the 2025 Australian Open final.
Sitting in her corner as a coach was her husband, Fratangelo. The former ATP World No. 99 player started coaching his partner in 2023, and Keys talked about how their partnership started recently.
After her inspired triumph at the Australian Open, the 29-year-old player was in high demand. That meant she had to answer many questions, and one of those was also about her husband in an interview with PEOPLE.
Keys revealed that her husband was initially set to join her team only for "a few weeks" after she was left without a coach. Ultimately, that ended up being a permanent partnership, but the beginnings were not easy.
The WTA World No. 7 player revealed that initially, her husband didn't feel comfortable telling her what to do on the tennis court.
"He kind of begrudgingly did it. It was funny because the first week he was so uncomfortable. He’s like, 'I don’t like telling you what to do.'"
As the two continued working together, Fratangelo eventually got used to coaching Keys, which is also one of the reasons why they decided to continue with their coaching partnership.
"It didn’t take that long, but it took a little bit of just getting comfortable with it."
Now, the two not only live a happy life as a newly married couple, but their partnership on the tennis courts is successful as well. Keys is now a Grand Slam champion, and achieving it with her husband in her corner was special for her.
"Now having achieved the biggest thing in our sport and the fact that we got to do it together is just, I mean, it’s one of my favorite things."
Keys also talked about her wedding. Despite being rivals on the court with every player on the WTA Tour, the American player also built a few friendships over the years.
That's why Sloane Stephens, Jessica Pegula, and Taylor Townsend were present as guests at her wedding. Keys enjoyed the wedding day so much that she wanted to repeat it.
"These are all of my favorite people, and they’re all here, and this is just the greatest thing ever. And I immediately was like, 'We should have another wedding because this is really fun.'"
