VIDEO | Dustin Brown walks with swagger after his backhand slice spins back over the net
Aristotle had said long ago that one is good at what he does repeatedly, hence excellence is a habit. Dustin Brow sure followed his philosophy to the letter as was seen in his backhand in Australian Open qualifier, following which he didn’t bother to look back as his opponent failed to reach it.
How often do you see tennis players getting a touch so deft that they are more than convinced that it is a winner? Well, Brown would certainly be part of the elite club that has claimed to have heroes of such acts. The German was playing Argentina’s Carlos Berlocq in the qualifiers of the Australian Open when it happened.
After going 6-3 down in the first set, Brown had pulled one back in the second set winning it 6-1. However, Berlocq had regained his energy by then and was giving his German counterpart a run for his money in the third one. It was 5-5 and Brown was 0-40 down looking at an early exit from the first Grand Slam of the season.
However, one moment of magic changed the entire game. Berlocq’s serve to Brown’s left saw the German returning with a backhand that saw the ball dropping on his opponent’s court and spinning back to his. The impeccable blend of timing and power needed to generate such a shot is unbelievable but the more interesting element was Brown’s conviction that he had hit the winner.
It clearly indicated that he had hit such deft shots in practice or previous matches, for he didn’t bother to take a stance when Berlocq rushed from the baseline to get a return. Brown, eventually, won the set 7-5 to qualify to the next round.
Unreal shotmaking by the mighty @DreddyTennis 👏 Returning serve with a spinning back over the net trickshot at 5-5 0-40 in the 3rd set. Then wins the following 4 points to serve out the match @doublefault28 @afzpronos pic.twitter.com/0n7zr3sDKS
— Huffie (@Hufffie_) January 8, 2019