Dustin Brown upsets Nadal at Wimbledon
Originally published on 02/07/15
The world No.102, who came through qualifying to reach the main draw, thrilled the crowd with an unlikely 7-5 3-6 6-4 6-4 victory on Centre Court.
Brown had history against Nadal on grass; he had beaten the Spaniard at Halle last year, and he proved that the result was no fluke as he produced the biggest win of his career on the one of the biggest stages.
Brown’s serve and volley tactics disrupted Nadal’s rhythm and the Spaniard fell to a player ranked outside the world’s top 100 for a fourth time in as many years.
"I knew what the plan was because I played against him in Halle before," said Brown. "Obviously he's a great tennis player. Knowing that the grass might be a little slower than in Halle, obviously doing it over bestoffive sets is a different situation than doing it only bestofthree."
"On this court especially, you meet players that don't want to play from the baseline sometimes," admitted Nadal. "This opponent is one of these ones. You cannot have mistakes against a player like him with that big serve, serving first and second almost the same speed.
"I had no rhythm at all. I didn't hit three balls in a row the same way. Then when you need to hit that ball, extra ball, you don't have the confidence to do it."
Jamaican-born German Brown will now meet Viktor Troicki in the third round after the Serbian defeated British No.2 Aljaz Bedene 6-4 3-6 6-2 6-4.
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