Jenson Brookby describes his week at the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships as ‘the best of his life’ after stunning the field to claim his maiden Tour trophy.
The 24-year-old was handed a wildcard into the qualifying rounds of the ATP 250 event. After winning two matches to progress into the main draw, Brooksby stunned the tournament by producing wins over third seed Alejandro Tabilo and top seed Taylor Fritz, beating them both 8-6 in the final set tiebreaker, en route to the final. Then in the title match, he dropped only six games against former US Open semi-finalist Frances Tiafoe during his 6-4, 6-2, triumph. Until this tournament, he hadn’t reached the quarter-finals of any event played this year.
“It means a lot to come away with a title here. I think it’s been the best week of my life, to be honest,” Brookyby said of his win in Houston.
“I hadn’t won any of my three previous ATP Finals, and those were all three years ago. One of my biggest goals in my comeback was to win my first title. So I wasn’t trying to think about it too much as I was getting closer and closer to the finish line, but I’m really happy that I’m walking away with the trophy.”
Brookby’s milestone moment comes after two years of turmoil when he was forced to halt his career. In March 2023 he underwent surgery on his left wrist before having another procedure on his right wrist two months later. Then he was suspended from the Tour for an anti-doping violation after missing three doping tests within 12 months. He was initially hit with an 18-month ban before successfully winning an appeal which reduced the penalty to 13 months dating from when the third missed test occurred. The reduction was due to “new information relating to the circumstances giving rise to the missed tests” and it was determined that Brooksby’s degree of fault should be re-evaluated.
It was never publicly disclosed when the new information was but part of the appeal included a testament from behaviour analyst Michelle Wagner. Wagner revealed her input last December during an interview with the Associated Press covering Brooksby’s autism diagnoses for the first time. Wagner said the tennis player “presented as a very severe case” of autism as a child but is now “on the very mild end of the spectrum.”
“I’ve had a lot of different life adversity, whether it’s on the court or off the court,” said Brooksby who didn’t play immediately after his ban ended in 2024 due to shoulder pain.
“So I think it makes these situations … like, I still get nervous about them and somewhat tense for sure, but it gives you a different perspective once you’ve had to face other difficult things in life.
“I’m just someone who hates to lose and loves to win in general – obviously tennis being most important, but even in other games, and that’s just how I’m wired as a person.
“I just really love winning, so that transfers over into when I’m in tough positions and maybe you should lose in those situations, that I’m able to at least find a way out of it.”
Booksby has risen more than 300 places in the PIF ATP rankings on Monday to 172nd. Before his suspension, he was as high as 33rd in the world.
“You try not to think too much about rankings, but you have to have some level of awareness and ranking goals since that can determine your next tournaments,” he said. “My main goal for this year is to beat my previous career-high ranking, 33, and eventually start getting into the bigger tournaments automatically. I’m a lot closer to that point now than I was this time last week, which makes me really excited.”
Note: quotes via Reuters/mensclaycourt.com
