A decade after his grand slam debut at Melbourne Park, Australian Jordan Thompson is celebrating the finest moment of his career after clinching a maiden ATP Tour title in Mexico in a triumph he described as a miracle.
The Sydneysider, who is Australia’s second-ranked player behind Alex de Minaur, capped a week in which he demonstrated remarkable resilience in Los Cabos by defeating three-time grand slam finalist Casper Ruud 6-3 7-6 (4) in the decider on Sunday, AEST.
The career-defining triumph comes just a year after Thompson was forced to return to Australia for treatment on a serious eye infection which hindered his ability to see.
A Davis Cup stalwart, the 29-year-old negotiated a testing path in Mexico on the court and in terms of scheduling. He spent more than 12 hours on court to claim his fist tour title after previously reaching finals at ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 2019 and 2023.
The No.8 seed, who moves to a career-high ranking of 32, was in significant trouble in a quarter-final against emerging American talent Alex Michelson, who had defeated a fatigued de Minaur in the second round.
But Thompson was able to overcome the loss of nine of the first ten nine games and later three match points to progress in a thriller, a result he believed was a miracle given the difficulty he was in against the powerful American teenager.
In the semi-finals, the Australian edged former US Open finalist and No.1 seed Alexander Zverev 7-5 4-6 7-6 (2) in a match that finished in the early hours of the Saturday morning in Mexico.
Thompson pulls off insane comeback | 01:01
Against Ruud, who has been ranked as high as No.2 and reached the final against Carlos Alcaraz in the 2022 US Open, Thompson was the superior player for much of the match but faltered when trying to serve the match out at his first attempt.
But Thompson was able to regroup in the tiebreaker against Ruud to seal a career-best week on the ATP Tour.
“I spent so many hours on the court this week. In the quarter-final I could have been double bageled. I could have been losing 6-0, 6-0. And now I’m about to lift the trophy, so I think it’s still a miracle,” Thompson said.
The Australian, who is popular among his compatriots given his work ethic and determination to get the best out of himself, drew a laugh from the crowd during the presentation ceremony when taking the microphone after Ruud.
Thompson had quizzed the Norwegian star as to whether he could speak Spanish, who responded; “Not very well”.
Ruud then thanked the crowd and sponsors in the language, prompting a typically-Aussie response from Thompson, who declared his rival was “full of shit”.
The day is not yet complete for the two finalists in Mexico, with the pair due to resume hostilities in a doubles semi-final later today.
Not that Thompson had any concerns about staying in Los Cabos for longer, describing it as “my favourite place now, without a doubt”.
The Australian will pocket $212,000 for his singles triumph, but more importantly, it also places Thompson in a strong position for the remainder of the year.
Thompson has only 192 ranking points to defend between now and Roland Garros at the end of May, which means he will be favoured to hold a seeding in a grand slam for the first time when he arrives in France.
All going well, it is a position the right-hander will also hold when he arrives at Wimbledon during the grass court season.
The triumph is a far cry from his experience a year ago when, after competing in a tournament at Delray Beach in Florida, he flew back to Sydney to receive specialist treatment for an eye infection.
“(They were) not great. It felt like a balloon in my eye-lid there from Delray Beach,” he told foxsports.com.au during last year’s French Open.
“I just had a really bad eye infection where I could just not see by the end of the day, so I had to go and get that fixed. I went back to Australia to get it sorted and to see what the problem was.”
