If you haven’t seen Dustin Brown play on a good day before, you’re truly missing out. The German may only be ranked No. 85 in the ATP rankings, but he plays a dazzling brand of serve-and-volley tennis that you don’t see very often.
The opponent today: newly-crowned Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal, who has struggled on grass for the last few years, and usually shows up exhausted to any Wimbledon warm-up due to his Roland Garros success year after year.
While Nadal was about as listless as one would expect, Dustin Brown put on a clinic for his home crowd, beating the World No. 1, 6-4, 6-1.
*****
The first eight games of the match were rather straightforward in the scoreline, but there were some early signs that the match would be entertaining:
![rafabrown1(watermarked)](http://www.changeovertennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/rafabrown1watermarked.gif)
Brown showed why he can be so dangerous, hitting so hard that Nadal struggled to get the ball back:
![rafabrown2(watermarked)](http://www.changeovertennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/rafabrown2watermarked.gif)
He showed off his skilled serve-and-volleying:
![rafabrown3(watermarked)](http://www.changeovertennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/rafabrown3watermarked.gif)
He has some great hands at the net:
![rafabrown4(watermarked)](http://www.changeovertennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/rafabrown4watermarked.gif)
No slouch himself, Nadal came up with one of those trademark forehands that just curls in at the last second.
![rafabrown5(watermarked)](http://www.changeovertennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/rafabrown5watermarked.gif)
However, Brown was keyed into what Nadal was doing on serve, and started hitting return winners like this:
![rafabrown6(watermarked)](http://www.changeovertennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/rafabrown6watermarked.gif)
Nadal put some pressure on Brown’s serve with this exchange, but Brown held for 5-4.
![rafabrown7(watermarked)](http://www.changeovertennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/rafabrown7watermarked.gif)
With Nadal serving to stay in the set, Brown crushed the ball with abandon, earning set points with these three ridiculous points:
![rafabrown8(watermarked)](http://www.changeovertennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/rafabrown8watermarked.gif)
![rafabrown9(watermarked)](http://www.changeovertennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/rafabrown9watermarked.gif)
![rafabrown10(watermarked)](http://www.changeovertennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/rafabrown10watermarked.gif)
Nadal saved all three, but Brown continued to eat Nadal’s serve for breakfast to earn another:
![rafabrown11(watermarked)](http://www.changeovertennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/rafabrown11watermarked.gif)
Nadal could not save the fourth, and Brown took the first set. The crowd was delighted.
![rafabrown12(watermarked)](http://www.changeovertennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/rafabrown12watermarked.gif)
Brown picked up where he left off in the first set, clearly enjoying how well he was playing:
![rafabrown13(watermarked)](http://www.changeovertennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/rafabrown13watermarked.gif)
Nadal’s struggles dealing with Brown’s return game continued:
![rafabrown14(watermarked)](http://www.changeovertennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/rafabrown14watermarked.gif)
![rafabrown15(watermarked)](http://www.changeovertennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/rafabrown15watermarked.gif)
Brown hit this ridiculous lob to earn another break point:
![rafabrown16(watermarked)](http://www.changeovertennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/rafabrown16watermarked.gif)
And then he hit another one to break:
![rafabrown17(watermarked)](http://www.changeovertennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/rafabrown17watermarked.gif)
If that wasn’t enough, after another easy hold, he did it again to get the double-break:
![rafabrown18(watermarked)](http://www.changeovertennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/rafabrown18watermarked.gif)
He hit another amazing return as he fought to bagel the World No. 1, but Nadal managed to hold serve.
![rafabrown19(watermarked)](http://www.changeovertennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/rafabrown19watermarked.gif)
With another big serve, Brown sealed the easy win, and kissed the grass:
![rafabrown20(watermarked)](http://www.changeovertennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/rafabrown20watermarked.gif)
Not bad for a guy ranked No. 85.
nice win for Dustin
Would be interesting to see if Nadal can turn around his horrible grass performance from the past 2 years
Watching this guy when he is on is a pleasure and a privilege – plus he has a skull on his shirt :)!
Thanks for this! This match was so much fun to watch. Dustin played a sensational match.