In 2020, Jennifer Brady is embodying a familiar phrase that echoes in press rooms at tennis tournaments across the globe: it's a process.
Over the last seven years, every step forward for the 25-year-old American has been meticulously taken with one goal in mind. At the beginning of her journey, the prize lingered like a hazy apparition in the distance.
That's why Brady made the decision to play college tennis. She chose to move to Southern California in 2013 and settled in for a two-year tutelage at UCLA that would eventually facilitate the next big step in her career.
"I didn't have the confidence in my game and the confidence in myself, or really a plan to go pro," Brady said this week after taking down fellow American CiCi Bellis, 6-1, 6-2, in second-round action. "Going to UCLA was probably one of the best decisions I've ever made. Stella [Sampras Webster, women's tennis head coach] and Rance [Brown, associate head coach], they helped me mature on the court and off the court and helped me grow as a person and take responsibility for myself and my actions."
While at UCLA, Brady played professional events during the summers and eventually got her ranking up close to No. 200, at which time she felt she was ready to make it as a full-time pro. She left college after her sophomore year and followed a path that would take her all the way to No. 40 in the world following trips to the second week of the Australian Open and the US Open in 2017.
But that success proved difficult to replicate. Through 2018 and much of 2019, Brady lingered outside the Top 80, and even dropped back outside the Top 100 for a spell last season.
It wasn't that she lacked the talent to be elite, it was just that Brady's process wasn't yet complete. The American needed to add a few more layers to her game, polish up her fitness, and bolster her self-confidence.
Enter coach Michael Geserer and physiotherapist Daniel Pohl. Brady started working with Geserer—who is well-known for coaching Germany's Julia Goerges—in China last fall, and met Pohl in Germany when she did a five-week training block there this past winter.
Brady, a self-described homebody, says it was a game-changing experience for her to step out of her comfort zone and spend the winter in a foreign land. It was also a chance to build a bond with her team. There's clearly a chemistry between her and Geserer; both speak highly of the other.
"She did a great job, deciding she wants a change from normal, just to do the next step, to see what's in her," Geserer said of his protegé.
Brady says the focus has been on nuance in her movement and shot production, as well as mastering the technical aspects of her serve.
"I spent a lot of time when I first started working with Michael and Daniel, my trainer, in Germany in the off-season," Brady said. "We spent a lot of time working on coming out of the corners strong, working on good weight transfer forward through the ball."
Those five weeks, and the work they continue to do today, have clearly paid dividends for Brady. She raced out of the gates in 2020, quickly earning her first win over a reigning world No.1 by defeating Ashleigh Barty in Brisbane.
It was a positive sign that more untapped corners of her potential were becoming unlocked.
Brady says that in Australia she practiced with a lot of Top 10 players and suddenly started to realize that she could compete at that level.
"Even in practice I felt like, ‘They don't hit the ball much bigger than me, or if they do it's very small margins,' " she said. "Then I was able to play a good match and win against Ash in Brisbane and I think from that point on I was like, ‘Okay, if I just keep getting better, then I can give myself the best opportunity.' "
There has been plenty of follow-through since. Brady racked up three consecutive Top 20 wins in Dubai on her way to the semifinals, and then, after the five-month hiatus due to coronavirus, she rolled to her first career title at Lexington, dropping just 24 games in five matches.
Geserer says that Brady is a consummate pro, and adds that she didn't skip a beat during the layoff, even though coach and player were separated and met only via conference calls during that time.
"For me, what's important is that even when we are not together the communication is very good," he said. "We have 100-percent trust in her. That's why it was relatively easy to come back to see her after that long period, and not start again from zero. We started at a good level."
Geserer is quick to deflect praise. He says all the recent results are coming from Brady, and that she still has plenty of room to climb.
"I think she has a great game, and she still has a lot of potential to [make] that game better," he said. "And definitely, with every win you get more confidence and you get more belief in your abilities. I don't see that she's limited in anything."
Brady—who will square off with France's Caroline Garcia on Day 5 for a spot in the second week—is happy that the process is taking her closer to where she wants to go.
"I'm taking each match one at a time, not putting expectations on myself, just getting fired up to compete, and taking each match as is," she said. "I'm just happy to be out here competing, just really enjoying it."
