Brooksby’s response, after being read the comments following his 6-1, 6-2 rout of 11th-seed John Millman on Friday: “That’s very accurate.”
Brooksby’s pro career might be just eight months old and his name might be unfamiliar to even ardent fans, but he has no shortage of confidence. And he has no use for false modesty.
Asked if he felt he was surprising opponents who don’t know his game, Brooksby said: “Possibly. I don't know exactly what goes through their minds. I'm not surprising myself.”
Brooksby also has no interest in the ball-bludgeoning approach that passes for tactics among so many young pros climbing the rankings — not when there are so many ways, in his analysis, to win points.
Match point? Who tries a drop shot on match point?
Brooksby did Friday against the 32-year-old Millman, and it propelled him to his first semifinal of an ATP 500 event.
At 6-foot-4 and 183 pounds, Brooksby was a few inches shorter and even more of a reed at 18, when he made headlines for toppling former Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych in the first round of the 2019 U.S. Open.
After wrestling with whether to turn pro or play college tennis, Brooksby, a National Honor Society member at Sacramento’s Laurel Springs High, enrolled at Baylor as a top tennis recruit but never played a match for the Bears. A toe injury scuttled his 2020 season.
In December, he turned pro and got to work on the Challenger Tour, one rung below the top-tier ATP Tour, and beat nearly every player he faced.
That’s what caught the eye of former pro Jimmy Arias, now a Tennis Channel analyst — Brooksby’s 23-3 record in Challenger events in 2021. And Arias pegged him as a player to watch at the Citi Open, even though he only squeaked into the 48-player field on a last-minute wild card that was granted after higher-ranked entrants withdrew.
“That’s ridiculous!” Arias said of the 23-3 mark in a telephone interview Friday. “Those guys [on the Challenger circuit] are all very good. This is a guy who just knows how to win.”
The 130th-ranked Brooksby has proved Arias right, turning heads with his shot-making flair, tactical savvy and competitive cool since he toppled Kevin Anderson, a former world No. 5, in the tournament’s first round.
Next, he ousted Hyattsville native Frances Tiafoe, ranked 53rd, followed by second-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime. With his 66-minute demolition of Millman on Friday, he sailed into the semifinals without conceding a set in four matches.
“What he seems to do is, he sees space and opportunity better than almost any player,” said Arias, 56, a frequent competitor in Washington’s late-summer tournament during his pro career.
That’s what makes Brooksby’s drop shot such a weapon, in Arias’s view: His almost Euclidean analysis of the court.
“He sees when a player is backed up; he sees the space,” Arias said. “He hits a drop shot sometime from pretty deep in the court, and it’s perfect!”
Arias also praised Brooksby’s defensive skill and his down-the-line backhand, which he deployed to great effect against Millman.
“He is brazen in his attitude of, ‘I’m going to compete, and I’m going to try to try to find a way to win, and I don’t care what you think.’ ” Arias said. “He is a breath of fresh air for tennis, to me.”
Brooksby is also part of the narrative that has supplanted “Rafa-mania” after 20-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal tumbled from the field in the third round.
Much like men’s tennis will soon do, the tournament has turned the page to the next generation of players. Up next for Brooksby is 19-year-old Jannik Sinner, a hard-hitting Italian who’s the tournament’s No. 5 seed. They’ll meet in the first of two semifinals Saturday.
The other semifinal will pit 2015 Citi Open champion Kei Nishikori against Mackenzie McDonald, who ended the run of Arlington’s Denis Kudla with a 6-3, 6-2 victory Friday.
“It’s changing the guard right now with tennis,” Kudla, 28, said earlier in the week. “There’s a huge opportunity for someone to make a big jump. Who is going to be the next top guys? It’s completely open.”
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