Jordan Thompson’s ironman effort in Mexico on Saturday – winning three matches in one day, including the singles and doubles titles across seven hours – was fuelled by two bread rolls.
That was all the Australian tennis star stomached while bouncing from one high-pressure contest to another in Los Cabos, a city he instantly described as “my favourite place now, without a doubt” after securing his maiden ATP Tour singles title.
Jordan Thompson lifts the trophy in Los Cabos.Credit: AAP
Thompson’s self-professed “miracle” title run was achieved with a series of escapes, next-to-no sleep and two hot showers to bring his body back to life in between his rapid-fire matches on the marathon final day.
He will forever have an incredible story to tell about his breakthrough tournament, having also recovered from 0-6, 1-4, 15-40 down against American Alex Michelsen in the quarter-finals.
The 29-year-old’s follow-up to the Michelsen escape act was an extraordinary three-hour, 40-minute semi-final upset of top-seeded German star Alex Zverev, the world No.6.
With only four hours’ sleep in the bank after that Zverev triumph, Thompson – who climbed eight spots to a career-high ranking of No.32 – rose from bed to prepare for the prospect of three matches in quick succession, with about half an hour between each.
“It was brutal,” Thompson told this masthead on Tuesday from Acapulco, the scene of his next tournament.
“I played for 3.40 [three hours and 40 minutes] with Sascha [Zverev], which is obviously extremely long, and the guy’s a top-10 player, so it’s not exactly an easy match. It was extremely physical, the courts were slow, it was cold, played at nighttime, and [the balls were a] little more dead.
“I finished at 1.10am, or something, then you eat, cool down, see the physio – I don’t think I got to sleep until maybe 4am, then you’re waking up for breakfast and getting ready. I got maybe four hours’ [sleep] at best.”
Thompson fitted in hot showers after his hard-fought straight-sets defeat of 12th-ranked Casper Ruud in the singles final – saving 11 of 13 break points – then after combining with countryman Max Purcell to beat Ruud again and his partner William Blumberg in the delayed doubles semi-final.
The Sydneysider’s victory over Zverev meant that doubles clash was held over, paving the way for Thompson’s marathon night, which started at 8pm when he trudged on court for the singles final – and ended at 2.56am.
Thompson’s repeated obstacles made his achievements remarkable, but the difficulty of what he accomplished is captured in the fact he is the first player since Nick Kyrgios at Washington, in August 2022, to claim the singles and doubles titles at the same ATP event.
His eating habits between matches are typically more nourishing, but he thought better of consuming too much food with such a quick turnaround.
“I definitely didn’t eat a proper meal. I don’t know if it was adrenaline getting me through, but I woke up, and I wasn’t too stiff or sore anywhere,” Thompson said.
“It might actually have been the lack of sleep because sometimes when you get too good of a sleep; you wake up not moving too well.
“I found it toughest mentally rather than physically. It is draining concentrating for so long, and at the change of ends, I would tell myself, ‘I need to focus here’ – otherwise the match would be over quickly.”
Thompson’s feat is the talk of the tennis world, but he is somewhat glad he had to quickly switch his focus to another tournament and did not have much time to think about what he did.
That said, he snuck in only two-and-a-half hours’ sleep after he and Purcell bested Ecuador’s Gonzalo Escobar and Kazah Aleksandr Nedovyesov in the doubles decider because they had to be on an 8.40am flight to Acapulco, after tumbling into bed at 5.30am.
“I guess it hasn’t sunk in too much yet because it happened so fast,” he said.
“It’s probably a good thing for me to get straight back out playing matches and focusing on the present, and the job at hand … [but] it means a lot. It feels like I can nearly go all day, as long I don’t get hurt, and I can maintain my focus and mental effort as well.
“I know can rely on myself there, and keep going about my tennis.”
Thompson’s become an increasing force on the men’s tour in the past 12 months, including wins over Rafael Nadal, Zverev (twice), Stefanos Tsitsipas and Adrian Mannarino, taking a set off the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Cam Norrie and Ben Shelton, and reaching a separate ATP final at ’s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.
There was also his sterling Wimbledon performance against Novak Djokovic, where his net-rushing display helped him seriously test the world No.1.
Thompson refuses to dream about a grand slam seeding yet despite being in position now, saying he “won’t believe it until it happens”.
“I think I’m just a little bit older and have a little more experience,” he said of his performance spike.
“I’ve had a change in coach, and I’m working with Marinko [Matosevic], who’s really put the belief into me and changed the way I’m going about my tennis. He’s brought in more of a use-all-your-skills approach, and I’m playing a little more aggressive and taking the game on more – and I still think I could do it more.”
Thompson’s latest on-court feat also helps overshadow his other headline-grabbing moment from this year’s Australian Open.
He was overheard during his first-round win over Aleks Vukic saying: “Oh, my god. This is the wokest tournament ever.” That amusing, off-the-cuff comment came during an exchange with a chair umpire about the rowdy crowd, while he also seemed to learn mid-match of the new policy to let fans in after every game, instead of at the change of ends.
Reflecting on that brief media storm now, Thompson said he wished he had not said it, but with a disclaimer on that.
“I obviously copped a little bit of heat for that,” he said.
“It was taken out of context. No one can read my mind or what the umpire said to me – and why would I use the word if I don’t understand it? But if I had my time over, I wouldn’t say it. It was in the heat of battle, I shouldn’t have said it, and I want people to know it’s easy to make things sound stupid when it’s taken out of context.”
