ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Jenson Brooksby tugged at the right shoulder of his red T-shirt and fiddled with some strands of his dirty blond hair as he spoke to The Associated Press about what he’d like the world — the tennis world, yes, but also everyone else — to know about him.
Once a member of an up-and-coming group of American men making their mark with big wins at Grand Slam tournaments, Brooksby wants folks to be aware of what went on while he was away from the tour for nearly two “frustrating” years that, he said, made it “easy to get depressed.” Ranked No. 33 at age 21 in 2022, just a year after going pro, he’s now unranked after being sidelined by injuries, operations and a ban connected to missed drug tests that eventually was reduced.
And, as Brooksby prepares to compete again in January, including at the Australian Open, he wants people — other players, yes, but also anyone else, including those who are, or know someone who is, autistic — to hear about his experience living with autism spectrum disorder, which he discussed publicly for the first time during a recent interview.
“It’s … just something I don’t want to have to keep to myself,” Brooksby said over a post-workout lunch in a boardroom at the U.S. Tennis Association National Campus. About 20 miles east of Walt Disney World, it’s the site of preseason training for about a dozen tennis pros.
“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?” said Brooksby, 24, a native Californian who said he was nonverbal until the age of 4.
“But I’ve always thought about it and … I, eventually, just wanted to talk about it.”
