American ATP player Jenson Brooksby has revealed he is autistic and discussed living with the developmental disorder.
Brooksby developed a reputation from a young age because of his talent. Many expected his powerful game to eventually become good enough to challenge for significant honors if he kept working hard.
Those hopes heightened after Brooksby reached the fourth round of the 2021 US Open as a 20-year-old. At that point, it had been a while since the USA had a player get near the top of the ATP Tour, and it seemed like Brooksby could change that.
However, life became more challenging in 2023. Brooksby was ruled out for a significant period of time in March of that year with a severe wrist injury. It took him close to three months to recover from that problem.
Worse news arrived in July 2023. Brooksby received a provisional suspension after missing three doping tests. The 24-year-old accepted it, but strongly denied any insinuations that he had been doping.
A few months later in October, Brooksby was given an 18-month suspension. That came as something of a shock. Although a ban of some kind was expected, a suspension of that length when he was never found guilty of doping surprised many.
In February 2024, The International Tennis Integrity Agency announced that it had reached an agreement with Brooksby to reduce the ban to 13 months. That allowed him to return in March and begin rebuilding his career.
That ordeal was a period of significant adversity for Brooksby. He has now revealed that dealing with the trials and tribulations that come with having autism is something he has managed his whole life.
Autism is a condition related to brain development that impacts how a person perceives and socializes with others, causing problems in social interaction and communication. The disorder also includes limited and repetitive patterns of behavior.
The condition can have a serious impact on people's lives. Brooksby told AP News at the U.S. Tennis Association National Campus that he had been reluctant to speak about his autism, but recently changed that mindset.
"It’s ... just something I don’t want to have to keep to myself. 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?"
Brooksby revealed that he was nonverbal until the age of 4 and spent 40 hours a week with therapists just to start talking. He also worked with therapists to improve in social situations and to communicate with others in an effective way.
The American was presented as a severe case as a child, but behavioral analyst Michelle Wagner, whose expertise is in autism spectrum disorders, says that Brooksby is now on the very mild end of the autism spectrum.
Brooksby also revealed during the interview that the autism helps him in pressure moments because he can focus on two or three specific details for a long period time, but admitted it can also make tennis generally more difficult.