'Embarrassing' Serena Williams locker room moment revealed by ex-American pro as Madison Keys recounts incident that left her 'screaming'

Madison Keys and Jennifer Brady shared their embarrassing locker room experiences, the former’s involving a bug, and the latter’s involving Serena Williams. While Brady remains inactive from tennis, Keys is currently playing at the WTA Finals. Madison Keys began her season dominantly, winning her first Grand Slam title at the 2025 Australian Open. She became the first player since Serena Williams in 2005 to defeat both No. 1 and No. 2 in Melbourne. Keys reached the quarterfinal stage of the next Major outing in Roland Garros but fell to eventual champion Coco Gauff. Now, as she competes in her first year-end Championships since 2016, the 30-year-old joined The Players' Box podcast alongside fellow American players Jessica Pegula, Desirae Krawczyk, and inactive player Jennifer Brady. To stir up some fun, Keys asked Brady about her “most embarrassing” locker room moment. The latter recounted a story involving the legendary Serena Williams and how she wished she could escape the situation with boxes of laundry."I would say at French Open, I was in the locker room, and you guys know how the space is very small like it's very minimal and where I was I was in one of the corners. I was actually next to Serena, and I was cleaning out my locker. I had four boxes of laundry, literally two bras and like one pair of shorts in one box, and then it's like four shirts. I'm like, "Just put it all in one box." And they give you so many boxes. And I'm in the middle of doing that. And Serena comes in, and I'm like, like I don't know. Like, I just I froze up and I was like, I'm in her way. I have to move."She then added that Serena Williams was arranging the scattered bags when Brady, feeling intimidated, just wanted to disappear from the scene. "I just literally just go stand on the bench, walk over like jump over the bags, and just leave. And I'm like, I never even finished cleaning out my locker. Like I just like had this urge to like I need to leave her in her space. Like, I was like so intimidated." (beginning 31:06)When it was Keys' turn, she revealed that she once screamed at the top of her lungs on seeing a cockroach, leaving the security guard petrified as he thought something serious had happened. "It was a night match. I was like the last person to leave and was packing up my stuff and I saw like a cockroach go running, and I jumped up on top of one of the benches and started just screaming bloody murder. It truly sounded like I was being attacked. And the poor security man outside came running in cuz I was the only person left, and he's like, "Are you okay?" And I was like, "Yeah, it was a bug. Sorry." It was about, "Yay, big actually. Totally okay. It's already gone. Really sorry." And he was like, "Oh, okay. That's it." And I was like, "Yeah, sorry." (35:26)Madison Keys withdrew from the ongoing WTA Finals before she faced Elena Rybakina in the final group stage. Ekaterina Alexandrova will play in her place.Madison Keys once referred to Serena Williams while revealing her future tennis plansKeys at the 2025 French Open - Previews - Source: GettyMadison Keys’ Grand Slam title came later than usual, as she became the third-oldest player to win her maiden major. In an interview before the WTA Finals, she reflected on her season and expressed pride in having one of the most successful years of her career. She also added that she feels she still has more to achieve, drawing inspiration from Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic."Am I fully satisfied? I don’t know if any of us ever will be, which is interesting because you hear people like Serena [Williams] or Novak [Djokovic] speak, and they always wanted more. ou look at their careers and think, you did everything. How could you possibly want more? So I think it’s just ingrained in all of us to really not be fully satisfied.”Keys last competed at the WTA Finals in 2016, and her appearance in 2025 makes her the player with the biggest gap between two year-end Championships.