Dustin Brown was born on December 8th, 1984 in a town called Celle in what was then West Germany. His father is a native of Jamaica, and his mother is German; his parents met in Jamaica and later came back to Germany, where Dustin was born. He played many sports as a child, but at age eight, began to focus solely on tennis. Eventually, the Brown family moved back to Jamaica, both as much for the cost of playing tennis in Germany as to remove all of the distractions from Dustin's life and to keep him solely focused on tennis. He showed a ton of promise, but as tennis is not one of the top sports in the country of Jamaica, he began to feel frustrated with his progress there. The family wound up moving back to Germany when Dustin was 20, so that he could continue his development unabated.
It was around this time that Dustin's family took out a loan and purchased a Volkswagen camper van for him, so that he could travel around Europe and drive himself to tournaments. In fact, he straight up lived in the van, in order to save costs on lodging. He also had a racket-stringing machine, as well, which he used as a way to supplement his income by restringing rackets for other players. For five years, Dustin lived this way, travelling across Europe and playing in smaller, Challenger-level tournaments year in and year out. His ranking never got higher than #459 during these years, but he credits this time for his development as a tennis player - he says that he wouldn't be where he was today if he hadn't earned his living out of his van. Eventually, in 2009, he got his ranking up into the world's top 200 and finally earned enough money so that his parents could pay off the van, and his results began to allow him to have the chance to qualify for the Grand Slam events. In 2010, he did just that, qualifying and playing in the main draw of both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open for the first time, and pushed his ranking inside the world's top 100 for the first time.
While he has won several titles on the Challenger circuit, Dustin has never been ranked higher than #64, and he has not won a main tour level title, nor has he progressed past the third round of a Grand Slam (he's reached two, both at Wimbledon). However, his career is a perfect example of why people shouldn't be so quick to deem those who haven't had major successes as failures - he's worked very hard to get where he's at right now, and he is definitely capable of causing a major upset under the right circumstances. In fact, in two matches against Rafael Nadal, both on grass courts, he is undefeated - first in Halle, Germany, in 2014, in a match where Nadal was literally just a few days off of winning his ninth Roland Garros title (and last Grand Slam to date), Brown crushed him, 6-4, 6-1, in less than an hour. The following year, Brown had his most famous victory to date - he faced Nadal in the second round of Wimbledon, on Centre Court, and not only held his own, but beat him in four sets, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. You've probably gathered by now that I'm one of the biggest Rafael Nadal fans you will ever meet, and 2015 was a rough year for my guy, this match included. But it was hard to be mad at seeing the sheer effervescent joy that Dustin brought to the game, and it was an upset that was well deserved - he played lights out tennis that day.
What Dustin is probably best known for is his incredible trick shot abilities, actually; he is routinely featured on the ATP's website for having the "hot shot" of the day, and his skills at pulling off amazing shots - behind the back, between the legs, you name it - are practically unparalleled on tour today, perhaps only rivaled by the already-profiled Gael Monfils. A YouTube search for "Dustin Brown trick shot" brings up many, many videos and compilations of the shots he's been able to pull off; here is my favorite of the ones I've seen in prepping for this post. Things like this are why watching the lower-ranked players in tennis appeals to me just as much as watching the stars - yes, the stars are at the top of the sport for a reason, but you can find talent all up and down the rankings. Just because someone hasn't had a major breakthrough for one reason or another doesn't make them a failure or not successful.
Oh, and he's also very handsome. So there's that, too. :) He's also definitely got me beat, hair-wise; I haven't cut mine for three years, and I remember reading around the time of his massive upset of Nadal at Wimbledon that he hasn't cut his for 19 years(!). Good on ya, mate. Let the locks flow.
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