Pundits on Jenson Brooksby game and style: ‘I’d hate to play against Brooksby; he’d bore me to death’

Shahida Jacobs
Jenson Brooksby plays a shot

Jenson Brooksby claimed the biggest win of his career and he was praised for his “unbelievably good attitude” and “incredible resilience”, but pundits admitted that the American “is boring in a way”.

The world No 39 stunned second seed Casper Ruud with a 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2 victory in the second round of the Australian Open on Thursday.

Brooksby, a defensive baseliner, kept sending crosscourt backhands to Ruud and often got involved in long rallies, which worked like charm for the 22-year-old as he dominated the extended tussles with the four sets taking three hours and 55 minutes to complete.

The result is all that matters for the American and although Mats Wilander admitted his play is “boring”, he was impressed with his performance.

“He has an unbelievably good attitude, he’s a fighter,” he said on Eurosport. “He doesn’t have a big game, maybe with the slower balls the serve is not as big as it usually is so he gets away with not getting as many free points with the serve, but from the baseline, he’s an unbelievable ball striker with a great attitude.

“He is fresh, he is not afraid, and I think we have to watch out. If you are not on your game, I mean, I would hate to play against Brooksby. I mean, I would literally hate to play against Brooksby; he’d bore me to death and that is a problem.”

Former British No 1 Tim Henman says Brooksby’s style of play will do for a lot of players, but he praised the rising star’s attitude.

“I think Brooksby, it’s not in a bad, negative way, but he is boring in a way,” he said. “When you’re playing somebody like that, you kind of think, ‘oh, this is all he has?’ and then you get a little bit bored and lose your way.

“When you are Casper, you have to be so aware and have such a great attitude. Against Brooksby, he’s going to do this to a lot of players.”

He added: “It was an unbelievable battle from start to finish. He would have liked to have closed it out in three [sets] as he had those three match points at the end of the third set.

“But he showed incredible resilience and resolve to keep fighting and keeping his level into the fourth set, when it would have been very easy for him to doubt himself and say ‘I’ve had my chance, I’m up against the No 2 player in the world’ (sic). But yeah, I think Brooksby deserves a lot of credit for finding a way to get it done in four sets.”

READ MORE: Universal Tennis serve up realistic ratings system – with Novak Djokovic top

Watch every match from the Australian Open live and exclusive on discovery+ and Eurosport

Related Articles