At Wimbledon in 2015, Rafael Nadal suffered yet another shocking defeat at the All England Club in the fourth round to Dustin Brown.
Nadal entered the championships that year having crashed out before the quarter-finals stage in each of his previous three campaigns in South West London.
In 2012, he bowed out in the second round to Lukas Rosol, and lost in round one the following year to world number 135 Steve Darcis.
The Spaniard reached the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2014, where he was defeated by a young Nick Kyrgios.
After a straight-sets victory over Thomaz Bellucci in his opening match at the tournament in 2015, Nadal was then overcome in the second round by Brown, who was given high praise from American tennis legend John McEnroe after the match.
John McEnroe’s words to Dustin Brown after he beat Rafael Nadal
In his post-match press conference, Brown was asked: “When you came off court, John McEnroe described your performance as one of the all‑time greats that he’s ever seen here at Wimbledon of a low‑ranked player playing on Centre Court. How would you describe your performance out there today?”
The Jamaican responded: “He just said that to me, I did a radio interview with him also. He said the same thing to me.
“It’s a great feeling for him to say that, obviously, you know, from the generation that was playing like that, playing serve and volley, coming to the net a lot.
“It was great to be able to do that today and do it for that long. I knew what the plan was because I played against him in Halle before.
“Obviously, he’s a great tennis player. Knowing that the grass might be a little slower than in Halle, obviously doing it over best‑of‑five sets is a different situation than doing it only best‑of‑three.”
Dustin Brown’s verdict on Rafael Nadal’s legacy after beating him
On Nadal’s career and legacy, Brown said: “Obviously, he’s one of the best players in the sport, and for me, being able to play against him twice, obviously on my favourite surface, is probably my luck.
“I mean, I wouldn’t want to play him on clay or hard court because obviously it would make playing my type of tennis even more difficult.
“I’m happy I got to play him on that court, win or lose. All the kids who play tennis dream about being able to play on that Centre Court.
“Playing against him there is special. Also, being able to put that performance together, it was definitely very difficult, and I’m very happy that I held it together for the whole match.”
After his triumph over the 22-time Grand Slam champion, Brown lost in his next match at the event to Viktor Troicki over four sets.
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