Dustin Brown

Dustin Brown (born 8 December 1984) is a German-Jamaican professional tennis player who rose to fame after beating Rafael Nadal at the Halle Open in 2014 and at Wimbledon in 2015.

He is known for his technique, speed, and unorthodox playing style, often entertaining the crowd with trick shots.

His nickname is "Dreddy" due to his distinctive long dreadlocked hair.

Brown competes mainly on the ATP Challenger Tour, in singles and doubles, having won 31 titles overall.

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 before settling in Celle.

At 11 years old, in 1996, the family returned to Jamaica, settling in Montego Bay.

The move was motivated in part by the high cost of training in Germany as well as his need to develop discipline on the court: "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.

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 also has two half-brothers named Steve and Dean.

He played several sports such as football, judo, and handball throughout his childhood.

He started playing tennis at the age of 5 but didn't really focus on the sport until 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 reported idol growing up was Russian tennis player and former world No. 1 Marat Safin.

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 me to play tennis."

Brown played his first junior match in August 1999 at the age of 14 at a grade 4 tournament in Jamaica.

In 2002, he competed in two junior Grand Slam tournaments, reaching the second round of Wimbledon in singles as a qualifier and the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open in doubles partnering Luka Gregorc.

Brown achieved a career-high junior singles ranking of 61 on March 18, 2002, and ended his junior career with a 34–26 record.

In doubles, he achieved a career-high ranking of 116 on November 11, 2002, and a 15–24 overall record.

Junior Grand Slam results – Singles:

Australian Open: A (-)

French Open: A (-)

Wimbledon: 2R (2002)

US Open: 1R (2002)

Junior Grand Slam results – Doubles:

Australian Open: A (-)

French Open: A (-)

Wimbledon: 1R (2002)

US Open: QF (2002)

Brown officially turned pro in April 2002 at the age of 17 and began representing Jamaica.

Between 2002 and 2009, Brown reached 11 ITF singles finals and 32 ITF doubles finals, winning 3 singles titles and 16 doubles titles.

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.

He achieved his career-high singles ranking of No. 64 in October 2016 and his career-high doubles ranking of No. 43 in May 2012.

Brown is notable for being one of only two players who are undefeated against Rafael Nadal after playing more than one match with him, holding a 2–0 head-to-head record.

Brown has yet to reach an ATP singles final, but has made two semifinals at the 2016 Open Sud de France and the 2016 Swiss Open Gstaad.

In doubles, he has won two titles on the ATP Tour.