Maddie Brooks talks to Norfolk Tennis News about her 2025 season, her second full year as a professional player.
The 28-year-old won one ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour title at Pelham (w/Petra Hule). She was also runner-up at two WTA Tour events in Vienna (w/Dalila Jakupovic) and Caldas da Rainha (w/Anastasia Tikhonova), and two further ITF events in Targua Mares (w/Justina Mikulskyte) and Maspolomas (w/Eudice Chong).
You achieved one title (Pelham) from five finals in 2025, including two WTA 125s Vienna and Caldas da Rainha, how do you reflect on each of those experiences?
Obviously, it’s tough to lose at any stage of a tournament, but especially in a final. Most of my finals (except the title I won) have come down to a few points here and there, which ultimately is the difference at this level. Once you get over the disappointment of losing and put everything in perspective you realise that getting to a final is still a ‘good’ week.
You competed with 14 different doubles partners in 2025, can you tell us about how tricky that is to organise, both logistically but also in building on-court rapport?
This year has been challenging for me on a few fronts, especially on the doubles partner I have competed with. At the start of the year, I would have been very surprised had you of told me I’d have played with that many different partners!
Going into the year I had a plan of schedule and partners, but unfortunately due to injuries (myself and partners), and schedule changes, I had to make a decision week by week as to who I was going to play with. It hasn’t been easy to doing that, with the constant change. I very much believe it’s important to have some continuity and try to build a partnership with someone.
I think when I’ve played my best tennis it’s been within a solid partnership, it brings a certain confidence, knowing what your partner will do, where you’ll both move etc. The logistical side of playing with different partners week by week is also quite stressful and coordinating everything. Even more so when you have a plan in place with schedule/partners and that changes very suddenly, having to then find partners for the upcoming weeks and where you’ll be travelling to can take its toll mentally.
What have you learnt in 2025 (on court, off court) that has helped or hindered your progress as a professional player?
This year has definitely been my most challenging year on Tour. Although, saying that it is only my second full year, so I have to keep that in perspective! This year was always going to bring new challenges. It was my first year defending ‘bigger’ points, which brings a different pressure to 2024. Last year, was almost a free hit in terms of it being my first full year on Tour, there wasn’t as much pressure or expectation. I’m happy with how I dealt with that and focused more on what I could control on court.
Unfortunately sustaining a wrist injury and playing half of the year injured had a big impact both physically and mentally. In hindsight, I should have prioritised fully healing the injury as opposed to playing through it, but with how relentless the Tour is and the playing every week, you can get caught up in that. I think, next year, I’m going to have to be more strategic with which tournaments I play and making sure I’m in the best mental and physical state to go and produce good performances.
I know injury curtailed the end of your season, but what technical areas and the mental side have you improved?
I’m really proud of how I’ve dealt with the adversity I’ve faced this year. It’s tough to fully analyse my level and individual components of my game for most of the year as it was more about getting through matches and just doing what was needed on the day. Overall, I think I’ve made good strides as a returner and [as a] service partner this year. Also, mentally, in terms of keeping perspective and believing in myself. I know where I need to improve heading into next year and look forward to making progress in those areas.
What's your goal(s) for 2026?
I’m definitely excited for the 2026 season. Having had eight weeks without picking up a racquet in order to recover from my injury, it has made me realise how much I enjoy the daily grind of being on Tour, competing and training every day, etc. I think the biggest goal for the upcoming season is getting my [WTA Doubles] Ranking into a position where I’m consistently getting into the Grand Slams.