Brown reflects on his feat against Nadal at Wimbledon: "What's the point of rallying with him from the baseline?"

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Jules Hypolite

le 31/03/2025 à 23h24

2 min to read

Brown Nadal

Dustin Brown, who recently became a father to a little girl, was a guest on Tennis Channel's *Second Serve* show.

The German-Jamaican, who reached a career-high ranking of No. 64 in 2016, has always delighted tennis fans with his explosive and unpredictable style. But things haven’t always been easy for Brown, who started his career with limited resources:

"My mom came up with the idea of the camper van. Losing in the first round of a Futures back then would earn you $117.50. That was enough to fill up the van with gas and drive to the next tournament.

I also strung rackets for other players. The local stringer charged ten euros, while I charged five. Everyone came to me because it was cheaper."

He then revisited his 2015 Wimbledon victory over Rafael Nadal, still regarded as one of the greatest upsets of the past decade:

"What helped me the most was having played him a year earlier in Halle. I already knew what kind of balls were coming my way. I didn’t have to overthink facing him or his game.

It was more about Centre Court. The plan was to do the same thing as in Halle. I was a bit worried because it was a best-of-five match, and Wimbledon’s Centre Court is slower. He came straight from Paris and hadn’t played any warm-up tournament.

I’m glad I pulled it off. What’s the point of rallying with him from the baseline? (laughs). My coach told me at the time: ‘If you land two first serves, you’re already two points ahead.’

A lot of people think I had no idea what I was doing on the court. But on a good day, I’d hit 60-65% first serves. And 90% of the time, that would win me the point, especially on grass."