20-year-old Jenson Brooksby wins third Challenger title of 2021

The pro career of Jenson Brooksby is off to a good start. The 20-year-old has won three Challengers in four finals and is 19-2 for the season, having just captured the hard-court event in Tallahassee.

That followed a win at the clay Challenger in Orlando, a final in Cleveland and another win in South Africa. Whatever the conditions, he's kept his run going.

"I don't concern myself with changing my game for hard or clay," he told ATPTour.com.

"I had a lot of confidence coming into the week. And we train really physically back home. We get the legs used to this everyday grind. That's definitely been improving a lot."

Having started the season below the Top 300, Brooksby has gotten his ranking up to No. 166 and is now aiming for the next level, competing in the qualifying event for the French Open and likely Wimbledon, as well. In 2019, he qualified for the US Open.

"I'll rest a bit now. Will definitely talk with my coaches tonight and see what we want to do. We'll get a good plan going to be ready for those tournaments for sure," he said.

A toe injury kept him from playing college tennis at the Baylor University or any pro events in 2020, but he is rising rapidly this season.

According to Brooksby, his success comes from competing hard for every point and going with his game plan when contests get tight—something he's worked on with his academy coach, Joseph Gilbert.

"It's important to keep building that confidence and becoming a better player. I focus on those things in those moments and try to not let my emotions get in the way," he said.

"Obviously there are areas, mentally and physically, to improve and get better."

If he can keep doing that, he's confident he can achieve his goal of getting his ranking into double digits, saying, ''I know I can compete like this every week. I know my ceiling is pretty high...I just want to keep getting better as the year goes on and I feel I've done that so far."

The win also moves him to fifth position for the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan.