This guy I’d never seen before played superbly with lots of unusual improvisations.
Centre Court fans were visibly delighted by some of their sparkling rallies.
German-Jamaican Dustin Brown, ranked 102 in the world, is six foot five with very long dreadlocks.
He won the first set 7-5 and lost the second 3-6 but then won the third 6-4 and after that I was sure he would eliminate Nadal.
BRITISH CROWDS LOVE AN UNDERDOG.
Brown played beautifully with lots of flair, loads of volleys, drop-shots, shallow-angled cross-courts, deft lobs that didn’t always work.
He improvises but, at the same time, he’s unfussy.
No ticks or twitches in his service action. He doesn’t bounce the ball three or five times, ever. He just throws the ball up with his left hand and whacks it.
In the first game of the fourth set, with Nadal serving, he hit the coolest backhand pass of the decade to make it 30-40 and everyone thought : Wow!
When he broke Nadal’s service again, co-commentator John McEnroe said, “Nadal at the moment looks resigned. It’s a bad dream he’s having here at Wimbledon.”
By now Brown was hitting winners off Nadal’s serve and putting 66% of his first serves in and he went 4-2 up in the fourth and then 5-3 and then Nadal netted a volley to give Brown match point.
But, inexplicably, Brown left a backhand volley he could have played…and the ball dropped well inside the baseline for 30-40. Ouch!
Then Nadal served an ace for deuce and held his serve and by then Brown had lost five points in a row but he served to bring it to 15-all and then 30-15 and 40 -15 and – suddenly – this the biggest moment of his life.
Brown, 30, is a year older than Nadal and had played four hours of doubles yesterday.
Centre Court at Wimbledon, match point, what does he do? He serves an ace!!!
McEnroe summed up, “Brown’s level of play on this court was spectacularly high.”
Dustin Brown been a pro for 13 years and spent five years living in a VW camper van to save on hotel expenses.
Excitement! Love it. So glad I saw that match.
Watched Wimbledon since I was at school and have been nine times, but not recently. We’ve been to Queens twice since we were last in SW19.
Tonight was really special.
If you missed it, see Dustin Brown’s next game.