Madison Keys came up one win short of returning to the US Open Final where she last appeared in 2017 against eventual champion, Sloane Stephens.
This year, Keys beat five opponents en route to last week’s semifinal matchup against Aryna Sabalenka, where she lost to the eventual runner-up in a heartbreaking 0-6, 7-6, 6-7 match. Sabalenka would lose to eventual champ Coco Gauff, who at 19 became the youngest American US Open champion since 17-year-old Serena Williams in 1999.
In celebrating Madison’s amazing run at the tournament, I posted the following congratulatory message.
“Shout out to Coco Gauff and Madison Keys, who are one win away each from giving us an all Black US Open Women’s Final,” I posted.
I knew both positive and negative responses would follow, so I wasn’t that surprised when a Black identity debate erupted.
For those not in the know, Madison Keys’ father, Rick, is Black and Christine, her mother, is white. Together the couple has four daughters, Madison being the second oldest.
While the colorblind claimants wanted to celebrate Madison’s run without acknowledging her Black side, another side representing the “she’s not Black/she’s not Black enough” faction surfaced.
The latter got their fodder from this 2015 NY Times story on Keys when the tennis star claimed Switzerland-like status when it came to race.
“I’m very much right in the middle,” said Keys. “I don’t really think of it. I don’t really identify myself as white or African-American. I’m just me. I’m Madison.”
Madison Keys has every right to identify the way she wants and that’s fine.
But whether she identified as Black, white or as Madison, it was bound to spark some debate. And at this year’s US Open, it was reignited.
So how should Keys be identified and accepted?
Historically, since her father is Black, Madison is Black. And historically, Madison’s mother would be ostracized for having children with her Black husband. That in turn would probably have had Madison leaning to the Black side, even if she “passed.”
The 28-year-old came up during a time when integration was more accepted, particularly through the connective power of Hip-Hop.
But Madison wasn’t a rapper. Instead, she chose one of the least diverse sports around- tennis- yet two of her four favorite players to watch were the Williams sisters.
Madison Keys holds an interesting position in sports, particularly in tennis.
Outside of the Williams sisters, Black women haven’t traditionally dominated the sport in terms of numbers. But since the Williams sisters first set foot on courts across the world, more Black girls have taken up the sport. Now you have names such as the aforementioned Sloane Stephens, Taylor Townsend, Keys, Naomi Osaka and of course 2023 US Open Champion, Coco Gauff.
For most Black people, Madison Keys is a Black athlete in a traditionally white sport. But for some Black people, Keys isn’t Black/Black enough, especially since she made it clear she doesn’t identify with Black.
For the latter, does that mean that Keys “isn’t invited to the BBQ” even though her father is Black?
Serena, Venus, Sloane, Taylor, Naomi and Coco don’t have to say they’re Black as their skin proudly says it for them.
But Keys’ skin tone and non-racial identity have some Black people exiling her from the Black-hand side.
Keys falls into the category of others like Tiger Woods who would rather be Tiger or “Blasian” instead of being Black.
Common sense tells you that since Tiger is both Black and Asian (his mother is Thai), Blasian is perfectly acceptable, especially among Black people. But we live in a society where you’re either Black, white, Hispanic/Latino, Asian or “Other,” so you have to choose a racial identity or it will be chosen for you.
But Black America has its own fragmented ID system as well.
There’s Black, African American, West Indian, African, mixed, light skinned and dark skinned. Then there are social identifiers such as “uppidy”, bourgeois, Jack and Jill, hood, etc. So despite having Melanin, distinct divisions of Blackness still exist within the Black community.
Take Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel. When he was hired by the Dolphins, the majority of people didn’t know the former 49ers offensive coordinator was half white and half Black. That was ultimately revealed when he discussed visiting his Black grandmother on his father’s side.
When that was learned, he was quickly identified as a minority, “biracial” and “multiracial” but not Black. That’s mostly because McDaniels himself never identified as one or the other, which some could interpret as he was hiding his Black side.
Once McDaniel revealed that his father was Black, everything changed.
“Mike McDaniel was publicly white until 2021,” tweeted GVSU history professor Lou Moore. “Although he’s visibly white and let everyone think he was white, and everyone thought he was white, the moment he said he had a black grandma and dad, he was no longer white.”
Madison Keys is similar to Mike McDaniel in that she chooses not to be Black or white. She just goes through life as Madison, which is her choice. In some ways, it’s the easiest choice to make because it’s also the least sensitive/offensive one.
But there always comes a time when individuals must make a choice or the choice will be made for them. And in a sport where Black representation is small, Madison Keys isn’t just Madison to those of a darker shade.
She’s Black, even if it’s to a lesser degree for some.
