Madison Keys marked her return to the WTA tour with a comfortable 6-4, 6-2 win over World No.85 Nao Hibino in the first round of Wimbledon. After her painful left wrist contributed to her shock second round loss to Petra Martic at the French Open, the American had more surgery to try and rectify the problem. Consequently, today’s good result and performance – she hit 20 winners and made just 14 unforced errors, while also winning 84% of points on her serve in the second set – represents an encouraging step in the right direction for Keys.

She said, “(My wrist) feels much, much better now compared to the previous months. It's obviously not perfect, like I haven't been able to do the repetitions that ideally I would have wanted to do, but it feels fine. It doesn't hurt anymore. That's really all I care about.” She continued, “I definitely think the second surgery has helped tremendously and I feel really good about it now.”

Keys also described the discussions she had with her team about whether she would take part at this year’s Wimbledon. She said, “There was definitely some doubt. No-one on my team wanted me to play here, so coming out and having a good match and hitting some good backhands kind of eased everyone's minds a bit.” She continued, “(The discussions) were mostly me saying, ‘I'm playing’, and them saying, ‘Hmm, maybe not the best idea.’ And I was like, “But we're going, so it will be fine.’”

The World No.16 has been proven right so far, and she agreed that today’s match was exactly the kind of opener she needed after arriving at the tournament without any previous appearances on grass in 2017. She said, “The first match on grass is never easy, and also coming back and not having any matches beforehand was obviously not ideal, but I felt really good about it today once I got into a rhythm.”

Keys admitted that nerves affected her, particularly early in the match as she was broken in the first game. She said, “I was OK all night and all morning, then I stepped on the court and I was immediately like, ‘Oh, my God, I'm so nervous’. I definitely had to work through that in the next couple of games. And then once I did, I felt really good. I feel like I settled in fairly quickly.”

The surface Wimbledon takes place on played a key part in motivating the American to tell her team that she would be traveling to London. She said, “I don't know if it was confidence or just pure stubbornness (that made up my mind). Wimbledon is so much of my year. I'm just so excited about grass court tennis. It really suits my game. I always feel really good and confident on it. I feel no one's movement on grass is amazing but I feel pretty comfortable moving on it as well. And the thought of grinding through the clay court season and then missing my favorite surface – it wasn't going to happen.”

Despite recording a good win today, Keys is not setting any goals for the rest of the tournament. She said (smiling), “Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I played one really good match. I’m really looking forward to working on things that I need to and taking that into the next round. There's really no expectations. It's just pure happiness that I was able to get myself healthy enough to play here.”

The American No.3 was also asked about her best memory on grass. She said, “A lot of things happened on grass for me last year. I made the top 10 and won my second title (the Aegon Classic). Birmingham as a whole in 2016 was definitely my highlight.” Keys also reflected on being unable to defend that title due to her wrist injury. She said, “I was disappointed about it, but at the same time, I knew it wasn't even an option. I think I would have been more upset had it been on the table and then taken off last minute.”

Up next at Wimbledon for Keys is a clash against in-form Italian Camila Giorgi, and she will be hoping to create some more good memories on grass. When describing the match-up, she said, “Obviously it's going to be quick rallies and will pretty much come down to who gets a good first strike. You never really know because sometimes she'll hit a winner and sometimes she won't. So, it's really just going to be about weathering the storm and trying to focus on what I can do.”