{"id":26141,"date":"2020-07-04T09:00:33","date_gmt":"2020-07-04T13:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordontennis.com\/?p=26141"},"modified":"2020-07-10T16:39:43","modified_gmt":"2020-07-10T20:39:43","slug":"dustin-brown-upset-nadal-wimbledon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2020\/07\/04\/dustin-brown-upset-nadal-wimbledon\/","title":{"rendered":"When Dustin Brown upset Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five years ago, Dustin Brown stunned the tennis world when he beat Rafael Nadal in the second round at Wimbledon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was a fourth straight Wimbledon defeat for Nadal to an opponent ranked outside the top 100 – all of which came before the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

His other three shock exits came against Lukas Rosol in 2012, Steve Darcis in 2013, and Nick Kyrgios in 2014<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Prior to that, the Spaniard reached the final at Wimbledon every year he played from 2006 to 2011, winning the title in 2008 and 2010.<\/p>\n

Brown had won the pair’s only previous meeting 6-4 6-1 on grass in the second round of Halle in 2014.<\/p>\n

At Wimbledon 2013, the German beat 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt to reach his only other Grand Slam third round.<\/p>\n

The Scene Heading into the Match<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Brown, 30 at the time, held an ATP ranking of #102 going into Wimbledon 2015.<\/p>\n

After coming through qualifying without dropping a set, the German beat Lu Yen-hsun in four sets in the opening round of the main draw.<\/p>\n

Prior to the tournament, Nadal had won the ATP 250 event in Stuttgart, a warm-up event on grass.<\/p>\n

He then lost to Alexandr Dolgopolov in the first round of the Queen’s Club Championships.<\/p>\n

Nadal was seeded 10th at Wimbledon, his lowest at a Major since being unseeded at the 2005 Australian Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The two-time champion, then 29, saw off Thomaz Bellucci in straight sets in the first round.<\/p>\n

The Story of the Match<\/strong><\/h4>\n
After the pair traded early breaks, comfortable service holds followed for both until Nadal was serving at 5-6.<\/h5>\n
Brown’s flat, aggressive returns earned him the break to take the opening set 7-5 on his Centre Court debut.<\/h5>\n

Nadal responded strongly, breaking twice and not facing a break point on his way to winning the second set 6-3.<\/p>\n

Brown broke for 3-2 in the third set with a brilliant backhand drop volley winner, after two consecutive double faults by Nadal.<\/p>\n

Nadal saved two break points to hold for 3-4, but Brown closed out the third set 6-4.<\/p>\n

The German then broke in the opening game of set four, helped by two wayward Nadal forehand unforced errors.<\/p>\n

Despite Nadal saving two match points serving at 3-5, Brown served it out convincingly – taking the set 6-4 to complete a remarkable victory.<\/p>\n

Brown successfully utilised drop shots, aggressive returns and big second serves, but his net play was perhaps the key element.<\/p>\n

The qualifier won 70 of his 95 serve and volley points (74%), and 98 of his 136 total net points (72%). (Stats from tennisabstract.com<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

His varied, attacking tactical approach contributed to taking time away from Nadal and disrupting his rhythm.<\/p>\n

The Aftermath<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Dustin Brown was unable to continue his Wimbledon run, falling to Viktor Troicki in the third round in four sets.<\/p>\n

The German reached a career-high ranking of 64 in October 2016, but the Wimbledon win against Nadal remains his career highlight.<\/p>\n

Nadal’s struggles continued as he lost in round three of the 2015 US Open to Fabio Fognini after leading by two sets to love.<\/p>\n

After difficult 2015 and 2016 seasons, he has since had a strong resurgence – winning five Grand Slam titles from 2017 to 2019.<\/p>\n

He has also improved at Wimbledon after missing the 2016 event through injury – reaching the semi-finals in 2018 and 2019, losing to Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer respectively.<\/p>\n

This was after Nadal was edged out by Gilles Muller in an epic 2017 fourth round encounter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Main Photo:<\/em>
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>