Dustin Brown (tennis)

Dustin Brown

Brown 2015 at the Wimbledon qualifying tournament
Country (sports)	Jamaica (2002–2010) Germany (2010–)
Residence	Winsen an der Aller, Germany
Born	(1984-12-08) December 8, 1984 Celle, West Germany
Height
Turned pro	2002
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand) *occasionally uses one-handed backhand
Prize money	US$ 1,681,739
Singles
Career record	36–58
Career titles	0 5 ATP Challenger Tour
Highest ranking	No. 78 (June 16, 2014)
Current ranking	No. 79 (October 26, 2015)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	1R (2011, 2015)
French Open	1R (2011, 2014)
Wimbledon	3R (2013, 2015)
US Open	2R (2010)
Doubles
Career record	61–69
Career titles	2
Highest ranking	No. 43 (May 14, 2012)
Current ranking	No. 70 (June 29, 2015)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	2R (2011, 2015)
French Open	3R (2011)
Wimbledon	3R (2015)
US Open	1R (2012)
Last updated on: July 3, 2015.

Dustin Brown (born December 8, 1984) is a Jamaican-German professional tennis player.

Brown competes mainly on the ATP Challenger Tour, both in singles and doubles. He reached his highest ATP singles ranking of World No. 78 in June 2014 and his highest doubles ranking of World No. 43 in May 2012.

Early life

Brown was born on December 8, 1984, in Celle, West Germany, a town situated near the city of Hanover. His father Leroy is native to Jamaica, while his mother Inge is German. Dustin's parents met in Jamaica and later settled in Celle. Outside of tennis, he played sports such as football, judo, and handball throughout his childhood. He began to focus solely on tennis at the age of eight, saying: "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." Despite not seeing tremendous success in tennis as a junior, he drew attention from Kim Michael Wittenberg, an American who ran a tennis academy near Hanover. Wittenberg regularly gave Brown lessons, and according to his pupil, he "taught him to play tennis."

When Brown was 11 years old, in 1996, he and his parents emigrated to Jamaica and specifically moved to the city of Montego Bay. The decision was partly made because of the cost of playing tennis in Germany and to make Dustin more disciplined on the court. He said, "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, in which track and field, soccer, and cricket are considered the most popular sports, he only got a chance to play tennis on poorly maintained public courts and with low-quality balls. Brown also said, "Things were just so different. Coming from Germany, having a Game Boy, cable TV and stuff and going to Jamaica and having to realize, 'Shit, there are other things in the world that are important.' I'm very thankful that happened. Maybe without going there I wouldn't be where I am right now." Nevertheless, he continued to play junior tennis.

In 2004 20-year-old Brown became unhappy with tennis in the country, but seeing his potential, the family decided to move back to Germany. In that same year Brown's parents gave him a Volkswagen campervan that could sleep up to three people. Since he did not need to stay at hotels, he was able to use the money saved to travel around Europe playing in tournaments. He said, "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." Brown, who also owned a racquet stringing machine, would earn money by restringing racquets for other players at a low cost as well as allowing players to use his spare beds for a night.

Career

2010

Brown at the Boodles Challenge in 2010

In his second main circuit appearance after a first-round loss at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in 2003, Brown defeated fourth seed Marco Chiudinelli and No. 139 Laurent Recouderc to reach the quarterfinals of the 2010 SA Tennis Open in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he lost to eventual runner-up Stéphane Robert. Brown became the second Jamaican after Doug Burke at the 1989 BP National Championships in Wellington, New Zealand, to reach the quarterfinals of a main ATP Tour event.

On May 17, 2010, Brown cracked the top 100 for the time first time in his career and attained a singles ranking of world No. 99. Brown played at his third ATP tour event at the 2010 Aegon Championships (Queen's Club) and defeated his first-round opponent Frank Dancevic, in three sets. He lost in the second round to Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan.

Brown at the 2010 US Open.

Brown announced in June 2010, that due to a lack of funding and support from the Jamaican Tennis Association, he was tempted to switch nationality, and play professional tennis for Great Britain, his paternal grandparents being British. Instead, in October 2010 he decided to compete for Germany, his country of birth. Brown's first event playing under the German flag was Eckental. Brown won his first title playing under the German flag at the 2010 Lambertz Open by STAWAG.

Brown volleying during his second round match at the 2015 Wimbledon
qualifying tournament

2015

At Wimbledon Brown came through qualifying without dropping a set. After beating Yen-hsun Lu in the first round, Brown then upset 10th seed Rafael Nadal in four sets in the second round, before losing to Victor Troicki in four sets in the next round.

Performance timelines

Singles

Grand Slam tournaments
Tournament	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	W–L
Australian Open	LQ	1R	LQ	LQ	LQ	1R	0–2
French Open		1R	LQ		1R		0–2
Wimbledon	1R	LQ	1R	3R	1R	3R	4–5
US Open	2R		LQ		1R	1R	1–3
Win–Loss	1–2	0–2	0–1	2–1	0–3	2–3	5–12

Doubles

Grand Slam tournaments
Tournament	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	W–L
Australian Open	2R	1R	1R	1R	2R	2–5
French Open	3R	1R			1R	2–3
Wimbledon	1R	2R	1R	2R	1R	2–5
US Open		1R				0–1
Win–Loss	3–3	1–4	0–2	1–2	1–3	6–14

Wins over top 10 players

#	Player	Rank	Event	Surface	Rd	Score
2014
1.	John Isner	9	Texas, United States	Clay	2R	6–4, 6–7(7–9), 7–6(7–4)
2.	Rafael Nadal	1	Halle, Germany	Grass	2R	6–4, 6–1
2015
3.	Rafael Nadal	10	Wimbledon, London, Great Britain	Grass	2R	7–5, 3–6, 6–4, 6–4

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
• Dustin Brown at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Dustin Brown at the Davis Cup
• Official website