“I’ve always been a fan of [Brilliant Earth] from the very start. And I’ve also always been a pretty avid jewelry-wearer, as I’m sure many people can see,” Madison Keys told WWD in an exclusive interview. The American tennis star joined forces with the global leader in ethically sourced jewelry, Brilliant Earth, as a new brand ambassador, with a launch of new styles coming later this summer ahead of the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows, New York City, where Keys will compete.

Even before she joined Brilliant Earth as an ambassador, Keys always admired the company’s vision and mission. “I like the very clean and simple but modern style that they’ve always had. I’ve always loved the option to have lab-grown, as well,” Keys said, citing “the ethical sourcing” Brilliant Earth uses for their gems and jewelry pieces.

“It was just kind of all these things that I already feel so strongly about. When I got the opportunity to partner, it just felt like the easiest partnership.” From the start of her professional tennis career, which began when Keys was just a teenager, the athlete used jewelry as a “way to express my personality and kind of show my personal style a little bit more, just because on court we obviously have our match kits that are scripted,” she said.

More than just the designs, the accessibility of Brilliant Earth’s pieces further validated her choice to partner with the company.

“I’m a big believer that anyone and everyone deserves sparkly things. For [Brilliant Earth] to be, basically, the first company to offer that was always something that I was really excited about,” she said, referencing Brilliant Earth’s ethically sourced and lab-grown gems.

Part of Keys’ ambassadorship duties includes the athlete’s role in crafting the forthcoming jewelry launch, which will drop toward the end of the summer just in time for Keys to compete on the hard courts of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for the U.S. Open. “Being able to work with the team from Brilliant Earth to kind of create something that is very meaningful and special to me was really cool,” she said.

“I’ve never really gotten to create anything from the concept space all the way to having a final product. I’m really excited that so many of the things that I talked about and were really important to me — not only just my journey within tennis but my entire life — we were able to put that into this launch,” Keys said.

Keys’ partnership with Brilliant Earth also opened the chance for the athlete to muse on the brilliant trailblazers, tennis stars and moments that come to mind ahead of the grass court Grand Slam event, Wimbledon, which begins Monday. Who came to mind for the athlete? Venus and Serena Williams. “They have done so much for the sport, just as themselves just being true to who they are,” Keys said.

“Serena’s career has been the greatest thing that I think we’ll ever see,” Keys said of the 23-time Grand Slam champion and Wynn Beauty founder. “Seeing her do all of the amazing things that she’s done on the court but then off of the court be such a creative person and a great business woman — it’s very inspiring to see someone that has the level of success that she does,” she said.

“Venus is the reason that I started playing tennis,” Keys added. “On top of that, her having such a huge role in equal prize money for women on our tour…we’re all so forever grateful for both of them.”

Now a Grand Slam champion herself after winning the 2025 Australian Open Women’s Singles title in Melbourne last January, Keys is trailblazing her own path through tennis history. “Australia was obviously the biggest thing that I’ve done in my career. I think the reason that it still is probably going to be really hard to top as my most brilliant moment is just because of the people that I had around with me,” Keys said.

Keys had come close to winning a Grand Slam on previous occasions, but to have her “favorite people” by her side in January to lift the Australian Open trophy was a “truly raw, emotional experience and we were just all so happy. To be able to do all of that together with the people I had around me, it’ll be a really hard moment to ever top.”