Nadal curse continues at SW19 as Dustin checks out

The curse of beating Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon has struck again. Dustin Brown, the German qualifier with the dreadlocks who beat the two-time Wimbledon champion in the second round on Centre Court, lost on Saturday in his very next match.He is the fourth man in a row to eliminate Nadal early at the All England Club and then fail to advance in the next round. All four were ranked outside the top 100 in the world.

“Obviously having the pleasure and being able to play on Centre Court and then to play a match like that (on Thursday), doesn’t make a difference if I lost today or not, no one will ever be able to take that away from me,” said Brown, who lost to 22nd-seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-4, 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3.

Before the 102nd-ranked Brown, Nadal lost to No. 100 lukas Rosol in the second round in 2012, to No. 135 Steve Darcis in the first round in 2013, and to No. 144 Nick Kyrgios in the fourth round in 2014.

Brown, whose father is Jamaican and mother is German, reached the third round at the All England Club for the second time in his career, but he has never been any further. He also made it that far in 2013. It was this year that he made a name for himself in the tennis world, however.Although Nadal has been struggling this season and was eliminated from the French Open in the quarterfinals for only his second loss ever at Roland Garros, he was still expected to get past the 30-year-old Brown at Wimbledon. But Brown’s play at the net troubled Nadal throughout their match, and sent the Spaniard home early for the fourth year in a row.

On Saturday, Brown couldn’t replicate his game. “Basically besides one or two service games in the whole match, maybe in the beginning and one time where he double-faulted twice in a row, there weren’t many games where I had chances,” Brown said.Troicki goes on to face either British wildcard James Ward or Canada’s Vasek Pospisil for a place in the quarter-finals. It is the 29-year-old Serb’s first last-16 run at Wimbledon since 2012 and his best performance at a Grand Slam since returning from a 12-month drugs ban in July last year.

Brown came through qualifying at Wimbledon but defeat on Saturday meant a swift return to the daily grind. “The schedule is to go to the airport and take the earliest flight, because tomorrow morning, I have club matches in Cologne, Germany,” he said.