Dustin Brown (tennis)
Dustin Brown is a Jamaican-German professional tennis player. He rose to fame after beating Rafael Nadal in the 2014 Halle Open and Wimbledon 2015, and is known for his technique, speed, and entertaining playing style, often entertaining the crowd with trick shots.
Brown competes mainly on the ATP Challenger Tour, in singles and doubles, having won 24 overall titles. His highest career singles world rank at No. 64 was in October 2016, and doubles world rank at No. 43 in May 2012. Brown is also notable for being one of the only two players to remain undefeated against Rafael Nadal after playing more than one match with him, holding a 2–0 head-to-head record.
Early life
Brown was born on 8 December 1984 in Celle, West Germany, a town situated near the city of Hanover. His father Leroy met his German born mother Inge in Jamaica and would settle in Celle for a time. This unusual dual nationality has earned him the nickname "Shabba" based on a line from Jamie Foxx in the 1997 comedy Booty Call where he claimed to be a "Germaican". He played several sports such as football, judo, and handball throughout his childhood. His focus on tennis began at the age of eight: "When I made the decision to pursue tennis instead of football, of course I wanted to be successful. I didn't want just to end up playing for a club somewhere." His junior tennis career went well enough to draw the attention of Kim Michael Wittenberg, an American who ran a tennis academy near Hanover. Wittenberg regularly gave Brown lessons, and according to his pupil, he "taught him to play tennis."At 11 years old, in 1996, the family returned to Jamaica, particularly Montego Bay. The cost to train in Germany and his need to develop discipline on the court were motivator: "I was pretty mentally soft when I was young. Anything could happen when I played—I could lose my temper, I got disqualified." In Jamaica, track and field, soccer, and cricket were the sports that commanded the best resources, tennis was played on poorly maintained public courts and with low-quality balls. Nevertheless, he continued to play junior tennis.
In 2004, 20-year-old Brown became unhappy with tennis in Jamaica, his family thought his potential warranted returning to Germany and a Volkswagen campervan that could sleep up to three people set him up. The mobile lodgings enabled him to play in the various European tournaments: "It was a brilliant idea by my parents, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to go on playing. It was a means of competing week in, week out." He also brought in income with his racquet stringing machine, giving other players lower cost service, and letting out his spare mobile accommodations for a night.
Tennis career
2002–2009
Early in his career, Brown represented Jamaica.2010–2019
In his second main circuit appearance after a first-round loss at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in 2003, Brown defeated fourth seed Marco Chiudinelli and No. 139 Laurent Recouderc to reach the quarterfinals of the 2010 SA Tennis Open in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he lost to eventual runner-up Stéphane Robert. Brown became the second Jamaican after Doug Burke at the 1989 BP National Championships in Wellington, New Zealand, to reach the quarterfinals of a main ATP Tour event.On 17 May 2010 Brown cracked a singles career top 100 world rank at No. 99.
Brown played his third ATP tour event at the 2010 Aegon Championships, defeating first-round opponent Frank Dancevic, in three sets; his loss came in the second round to Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan.
By June 2010, a lack of funding and support from the Jamaican Tennis Association tempted him to switch national association to Great Britain, his paternal grandparents being British. In October 2010 he decided to compete for Germany and his debut event playing under the German flag was Eckental. His first title success playing under the German flag came at 2010 Lambertz Open.
Brown partnered Jonathan Marray at the 2012 French Open; they lost in the first round. Brown/Marray also reached four Challenger tour finals in 2012, winning two in Bosnia and Italy.
In 2014 he achieved his most significant career win by defeating world No. 1 tennis player Rafael Nadal at the Halle Open.
At Wimbledon in 2015 Brown came through qualifying without dropping a set. After beating Yen-hsun Lu in the first round, Brown then upset 10th seed and 2-time champion Rafael Nadal in four sets in the second round, before losing to Victor Troicki in four sets in the next round.
Brown reached his first singles semifinal on the ATP World Tour at the 2016 Open Sud de France after having lost eight consecutive quarterfinal matches. There, he lost against top seed Richard Gasquet in three sets.
Brown reached a career debut second round of the French Open in 2016.
After winning the 2016 Aegon Manchester Trophy, Brown received a wild card for the 2016 Wimbledon Championships. There, he beat Dušan Lajović in the first round before losing to Nick Kyrgios in the second. Both matches were decided in five sets.
Brown competed in the first round of the 2016 Summer Olympics against Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil. Brown was leading 6–4, 4–4 when he went down with an ankle injury. Medical staff taped him, he returned to the match playing two points. Bellucci increased the score to 4–5 in the second set. Brown could not return play and retired in tears.
Brown lost in straight sets to Andy Murray at Wimbledon in 2017 in the second round.
In April 2019, Brown reclaimed an ATP Challenger singles title from three years previous at the Mouratoglou Open in Sophia Antipolis, winning the final over Filip Krajinović in straight sets.
On 13 June 2019, Brown upset compatriot and world No. 5 Alexander Zverev at the 2019 Stuttgart Open in the second round. Following this victory, he lost in a third-set tiebreaker to Félix Auger-Aliassime in the quarterfinal.