Dustin Brown Recalls Memorable Win Over Rafael Nadal in Wimbledon 2nd Round

Rafael Nadal lifted two Wimbledon titles, while Dustin Brown never progressed beyond the third round.

Dustin Brown Recalls Memorable Win Over Rafael Nadal in Wimbledon 2nd Round

Rafael Nadal, Dustin Brown (Image via Bleacher Report, X/We Are Tennis)

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Dustin Brown remained unbeaten against Rafael Nadal. Both players have called time on their careers, and Brown, during a recent podcast, recalled his Grand Slam victory over the tennis great. Brown met Nadal twice, both on grass. They were first pitted against each other in the fourth round of the 2014 Halle Open, which Brown won without breaking a sweat.

The next meeting came at Wimbledon the following season. Brown took the first set off the now-39-year-old, and the latter was successful in winning the next set, but couldn’t capitalize on his lead, eventually losing the match in four sets. During The Changeover Podcast, the 40-year-old revealed the mentality he had before walking onto the Centre Court.

I was thinking that I can win if I do the same thing, obviously, I have to believe that I can win the match, and I need to do the same thing [as in Halle]. The question is, am I going to be able to do that because at the end of the day it’s really high-risk tennis, and I’ve got to do that to take him out of his comfort zone and not make any mistakes doing it.

Another thing helped him deal with nerves. Prior to that match, he had never played on the Centre Court. And when he was asked by his team in the locker room whether he wanted to see the court before facing Nadal, Brown refused as he deemed it best to check the condition only during the match.

Alexander Zverev recalls his coaching experience with Rafael Nadal

Alexander Zverev has made it to the semifinal of the Canadian Open for the second time in his career. In the quarterfinals, Sascha knocked out defending champion Alexei Popyrin to schedule his career’s eighth match against Karen Khachanov.

Toni Nadal, Alexander Zverev
Toni Nadal, Alexander Zverev (Image via X/Olly Tennis, We Are Tennis)

One thing about Zverev has been making headlines in recent times. He wants to add Toni Nadal to his coaching team, but Toni has so many other responsibilities that it’s stopping him from joining the three-time Grand Slam finalist’s team.

Before starting his campaign for the North American hard-court swing, Zverev visited the Rafa Nadal Academy, where, apart from Toni, he also received advice from the 22-time Grand Slam champion. He recalled the time he spent with Nadal during the Nothing Major podcast and also confessed that he still would’ve chosen Novak Djokovic as his dream coach if he had not received advice from the 14-time French Open champion.

But spending the week in Majorca, the intensity that Rafa played at, that is the intensity that he coaches at. It was unbelievable. We had dinner, and I was so thankful for that. He was unbelievable. But we had dinner until 1 am together, and in the middle of dinner, he would stand up and do swinging forehands and show me what technique he wanted me to improve on.

Zverev was the reason behind Nadal’s exit in his career’s last French Open. Last year, they met in the first round of the French Open, which Zverev won in straight sets before reaching the final and losing in five sets to five-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz.

At the Canadian Open, the World No.3 had lifted the title in 2017 by beating Roger Federer. Zverev holds a 5-2 lead-to-head lead over Khachanov, and the upcoming match will be their first encounter since their third-round clash in the 2024 Cincinnati Masters.

While the Russian ace is searching for his first title of the season, Zverev has lifted the BMW Open and reached two finals- at the Australian Open and the Stuttgart Open. But he ended up losing both the matches to Jannik Sinner and Taylor Fritz, respectively.

Also read: Alex de Minaur Opens Up About Feeling Mentally Burned Out Due to the Ever-Growing Demands of the Men’s Circuit