German journeyman Dustin Brown smashes Nadal at Wimbledon
Dustin Brown advanced to the third round at Wimbledon by beating 14-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal in four sets. Not bad for the world 102, whose career has been short on glory so far.
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It wouldn’t be an insult to call Dustin Brown a journeyman. The 30-year-old is ranked at 102 in the world and has spent much of his career scratching away on the minor tournaments.
The German had to trawl through the qualifying rounds to reach the main draw at Wimbledon.
Such have been his travails that three years on the circuit were passed living in a VW camper-van bought by his parents. It allowed him to drive to tournaments around Europe. He often stopped at launderettes to wash his clothes and hasn't been too proud to string rackets for other players to make extra cash.
So his celebration on Centre Court on Thursday night after his four-set victory over the 2008 and 2010 champion Rafael Nadal?
Lifting his shirt to reveal a tattoo of his father on his stomach.
"I don't get to see my father that often," Brown said. "It's been a very long road for me and my whole family. So that's one of the things I've been wanting to do for a very long time."
When Brown stepped out for his first appearance on the hallowed Centre Court at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, he was the underdog.
True, he had beaten Nadal on the grass courts at Halle in Germany last year. True, Nadal was at his lowest ranking in a decade but even still – the winner of 14 grand slam titles was expected to show enough wit and nous to deal with the inconsistencies of an unheralded challenger.
And once Nadal pocketed the second set 6-3 to level the match at one set all - after dropping the first set 5-7 - tennis form was expected to take it’s course. But Brown had other ideas claiming the following two sets 6-4 6-4.
He’s into the third round at a grand slam for only the second time. His previous foray into the last 32 of a major came at Wimbledon in 2013. And his triumph in 2015 over the former world number one came courtesy of the good old days of grass court tennis – serve and volley - 71 of his 99 forays to the net were successful. The throwback to the time when the grass played fast reaped handsome dividends.
"Obviously he's one of the best players of the sport and being able to put that performance together, it was definitely very difficult," said Brown. "I'm very happy that I held it together for the whole match."
For Nadal, it's another disappointment. He lost his French Open title in May and he admitted after the defeat to Brown that he may not be able to replicate his triumphs on the lawns in south-west London.
The statistics show, quite bizarrely, that he has lost to players ranked outside the top 100 in each of his last four appearances at Wimbledon.
"I don't know if I will be back to the level of 2008 or 2010," he said. "My motivation is try to be back to that level. But I've got to keep working.
"If I don't make that happen then I've played five finals and taken the trophy back home two times, so that's not bad."
Wimbledon is Nadal's worst grand slam performance this year.
He was beaten in the quarter-finals at both the Australian Open and French Open. And yet the preparations for the third grand slam event of the season had gone well. He won the fourth grass-court title of his career in Stuttgart in Germany in June.
"It's not the end. It is a sad moment for me but life continues. My career, too," he added.
Brown's reward will be a third round match on Saturday against the Serbian 22nd seed Victor Troicki.
"When I watch my matches it's like: 'Okay, that's a good shot, maybe that was stupid'. That is how I am," said Brown. "That's what makes me dangerous, especially on these surfaces."
Troicki doesn't have the same pedigree as Nadal at Wimbledon. He has at least been forewarned.
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