As he prepares to return to competition in January at the Australian Open, Jenson Brooksby, who is currently unranked, is opening up and discussing his experience living with autism spectrum disorder.
Brooksby burst onto the tennis scene just one short year after going pro to land #33 at age 21 in 2022, but a slew of injuries, operations and a ban that was connected to missed drug tests, which was eventually reduced, derailed his rise.
Brooksby, 24, is now focused on the road ahead while talking about his journey following a two year layoff.
“It’s … just something I don’t want to have to keep to myself,” Brooksby said of his autism , during a post-workout lunch in a boardroom at the U.S. Tennis Association National Campus, according to ESPN.
“It’s obviously a personal topic that, even with people you may feel very comfortable with — in my mind, at least for a long time — it wasn’t [something] to just go blurting out as part of a conversation, you know? But I’ve always thought about it and … I, eventually, just wanted to talk about it.”
Brooksby called the autism a “big strength” in “pressure moments” on the court which he says allows him to “focus on two or three specific details really well for a long period of time” but added that it is “something that makes [tennis] a little tougher.”
“Multiple bad things just happened at once,” he continued. “It was a lot to take, mentally.”
“I just want people to know me for who I am fully, and that’s just another part of me,” he said.
