Qualifier Dustin Brown knocks Nadal out of comfort zone and Wimbledon

Six foot five inches, dread locks almost to his waist, a couple of rings punched through his ears and a tongue stud, Dustin Brown looked the least likely of king slayers on Centre Court. But it was a night of Rafa La Vista.

Unconventional, brilliantly original, Brown brought a streak of colour and verve to the evening match and with more drop shots and half volleys in the first set than you would see in a week of Wimbledon, his unpredictability and idiosyncratic game confounded the 14 times Grand Slam winner Nadal.

The 29-year-old Spaniard missed forehands in the fourth set that in previous years could have turned the match but so too was his half German, half Jamaican opponent close to unplayable on the night.

Losing sequence

Nadal, who departed Wimbledon in the fourth round last year, the first round in 2013 and the second round the year before that lost 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in just over two and a half hours.

“I’ve never been on the court before,” said Brown of Centre Court. “But I’ve been on grass and being with him on the grass and winning (Halle last year) made me feel comfortable.

“I had nothing to lose. I went for my shots and it really went well from the beginning.”

For the first set Nadal didn’t know what to make of Brown’s feathered half volleys and crushing serves and his tactic of playing deliberately short points, which to the delight of the beery evening crowd, trumped Nadal’s power and placement.

Brown's low ranking of 102 was also of little comfort to the 10th seed, who was beaten last year by the 144 ranked Australian, Nick Kyrgios.

The Brown gameplan was simple, to play at the net and not be drawn into a back court hitting match, which he would surely have lost.

But with Brown’s flash came poise and it won him the match. Like forwards win rugby matches, serving and returning earns championships. The doubt in everyone’s mind was whether the qualifier could sustain it. He did with 77 per cent of first serves won.

Brown threw Nadal all sorts of junk and playing with abandon took the first set 7-5 in 39 minutes. Nadal reeled him in though, broke service in the third game and locked in taking the second set 6-3.

Brief knockback

But it was Brown who reacted to that brief knockback, taking Nadal’s serve for 3-2 and the third set 6-4 for a 2-1 lead.

“Lose the first set and you are always under pressure,” said a disconsolate Nadal afterwards shaking his head.

He was in a hole that was about to get deeper, when Brown broke service in the first game of the fourth set.

The challenge was set. But Nadal couldn’t rise to it.

Brown even had two match points on the former champions serve. Finally it came down to the last game, the last point. Brown aced Nadal.

“Good moments, bad moments,” said Nadal. “Obviously today is a bad moment for me. Just I need to accept these kind of things that can happen. I did all my career.

“Keep going. You know, it’s not the end. Is a sad moment for me, as I said before. But life continues.

“My career, too. I have to keep going and working more than ever to try to change that dynamic.

“Last year and this year no problems at all with my knees. I don’t know if I will be back to the levels of 2010, 2008, 2006 . . . I don’t know.

“Today I didn’t hit three balls in a row the same way. No rhythm.”

Brown, who changed nationality from Jamaican to German in 2010, bore a large tattoo of his father – mistaken for Bob Marley – on his ribcage and brought a distinctly chilled presence to the post match conference.

“I’m very happy that I held it together for the whole match,” said Brown. “I had a game plan. It wasn’t easy. Playing him is never easy.

“Whatever I did, it was to take him out of his comfort zone. Stay at the back and hit shots . . . that would not be good for me.

“It’s good if he doesn’t get a lot of hits.”