Next Opponent Number 1 began speaking at age 4 and spent 40 hours a week in therapy for many years. Now he is an example of perseverance and courage: “I didn’t want to give up what I love”
Co-author
July 2 – 17.36 – MILANO
A child who did not speak until he was four is today in the third round of Wimbledon, the best result of his career on the London grass. Jenson Brooksby rolled up his sleeves to claim two clear victories on the hallowed English turf and earn recognition for taking on the world number 1 because “this is one of the biggest matches in tennis at the moment. Yannick has been winning the most important tournaments for a long time, and what I love more than anything is having great matches on the Grand Slam courts.” “Brooksby-Sinner” is an opera that so far has only one act, but is memorable in blue. Even if we are talking about five years ago, before this reunion, dated 2026. What was happening to Jenson in the meantime? He changed four or five lives, and every time he had to roll up his sleeves: against opponents, against two serious wrist injuries, against an anti-doping suspension. And against autism.
Obsession and talent
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Brooksby opens a chest of memories at Christmas 2024 and is short of sweets: “I am autistic, and when I was a child, doctors thought it was very serious. I didn’t speak until I was four, to learn this I spent 40 hours a week with therapists. Now I needed to tell everyone and maybe become an example for those who suffer from it. I don’t want to stop doing what I love.” Obsession beats talent, but when obsession is combined with talent, it also beats the giant that is autism. And Jenson’s mission to become a model comes to fruition in Houston in April 2025, when he wins his first ATP title (ranked 507th in the world, sporting achievement), and at the end of the match a girl with a ball approaches him: “Thank you, Jenson. I’m autistic too.”
PRECEDENT IN WASHINGTON
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The boy from Delaware, born in 2000, is distinguished by quality from the first hits of the ball. They notice this and work on it, turning him into a loose cannon of the circle: like a good American, he gets loose on fast surfaces, strengthens his forehands and backhands, improves his serve. And he goes in search of exploits. There will be plenty of them in 2021: the first ATP final (on Newport grass) and the 500m super course in Washington in the summer. Jenson makes progress, but stops in the semi-finals against Jannik Sinner. A match that smells like an early final and is actually very balanced in the first set, with Brooksby getting three set points on the Blues’ serve, but they are all neutralized. Sinner heads back upstream to win 7-6 before clearly taking the second set as the American ran out of batteries. Jenson remembers everything about that match: “But we’ve both changed a lot since then,” he said today at Wimbledon, “I need to do my homework this time, just like with any other opponent.” However, that time in Washington, Yannick also won the final, winning the first 500 title of his career.
VS Djokovic
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After Washington, all attention turns to Brooksby also because at twenty years old the boy is among the top hundred and arouses the curiosity of professionals. Curiosity that turns to amazement when, at the next US Open, he makes it to the round of 16 (the youngest American in 19 years to make it that far) and, above all, finds Djokovic’s kryptonite throughout the first set, which he actually won 6-1. The Serb has to make a Herculean effort to come back and put an extra brick in his Grand Slam dream (which he then lost in the final to Medvedev), but he makes a note of Jenson: “He has an indiscriminate game, he is very smart on the court. He will be a great player.”
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SUSPENSION OF ITIA
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Nola’s blessing goes to the lady’s other half. Because Brooksby’s potential is becoming more known, but he’s headed for trouble. First of all, physical: in January 2023 at the Australian Open, he lost in the third round to Tommy Paul and realized that something was wrong with his wrist. We need surgery first on the right, then on the left: delicate operations, eight months of forced stoppage. A cleaver when you are not even twenty-two years old, and you want to devour the world. These are the most difficult months: Jenson is struggling with pain and autism, which no one knows about yet. Before the third shadow arises, the anti-doping shadow: he misses three tests and Itia is adamant that he will be banned for 18 months. He explains: “I’ve always been negative, it doesn’t make sense,” but the judges accept a “high level of guilt” and tell him he can recover from the injury without much worry because he will have it until January 2025. What’s left to do? Roll up your sleeves: Brooksby recovers beautifully and tells the world his very difficult story before regaining the circle with backhands. Like the ones with which he closed out the decisive points in Houston, winning the first ATP title after having six match points overturned over the entire distance: if not for 250, it would have been a story straight out of a novel. In a year and a half, Jenson has returned to an excellent level: today he ranks 81st and dreams of climbing a few more steps. Because if talent and obsession play on the same side of the field, a spectacle is guaranteed.
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