There aren’t many examples of autistic athletes in professional sports. Brooksby’s revelation of his condition could make him one, if he can find his old form, and rejoin the growing U.S. army of Top 50 players. Brooksby has been working out at the USTA’s National Center in Florida under the guidance of a new pair of coaches, Rhyne Williams and Eric Nuñez. Thursday turned out to be the biggest positive step of his comeback so far, a well as the first sign that he still has the unique set of skills that took him as high as No. 33 three years ago.
Against Bonzi, Brooksby slowly found the range on his serve, his ground strokes, and his drops and volleys, both of which he hits in an unorthodox, two-handed fashion. Over the last two sets, he and the Frenchman matched missiles from the baseline, while Brooksby hung on, long enough and tenaciously enough, until he won.
He lost the first set 6-1. After going up 4-2 in the second set, he double faulted to give the break back, but then came up with just enough defense, and a flicked crosscourt backhand pas at set point, to level the match.
In the third, Brooksby was broken at 3-3, then fell behind on Bonzi’s serve 40-0. Just when it looked over for him, the grit and the focus kicked in. He came back to break Bonzi for 4-4, saved five break points on his own serve at 5-5, and broke at 6-5 to escape with a 1-6, 7-5, 7-5 win. Bonzi won two more points and one more game, but Brooksby—doing Brooksbyan things—won the match.
