Who is Dustin Brown, the «Rasta Racket» of Roland Garros?

Dustin Brown had made a name for himself by taking out Rafael Nadal at the Wimbledon tennis tournament in 2015. This afternoon, he was eliminated by Gaël Monfils in the 1st round of Roland Garros. But who is Dustin Brown, the «Rasta Racket» of tennis?

Dustin Brown was born in Celle, West Germany, on December 8, 1984. He moved to his father's native Jamaica in 1996. As a child, he played handball, soccer and judo. He decided to devote himself to tennis only at the age of 8.

He hasn't cut his hair in 19 years and has a piercing on his tongue. His paternal grandmother was born in England, making him technically eligible for the GB David Cup team had he not made his debut for Jamaica in a match against Bolivia in 2003.

He has been the object of prejudice all his life in Germany, to the point of not being allowed into bars and nightclubs. He confided: «Of course, I resisted. And there were a lot of problems when I was young, both at school and in the tennis world. Most of the time I got used to it, it was fine, but it can still be a problem today. When there was only one person, it's no big deal, you change the venue, but when there were six or seven of us and nobody can get in because of one person - in this case me - it takes all the enthusiasm out of the evening.»

Bob Marley or Peter Tosh?

Brown often shows off his tattoo on his left flank at the end of a match. In fact, it appears to be a portrait of his father, Leroy, who is always by his side.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BIE10jiD8ca/

Real Rasta or not?

Dustin Brown has never publicly exposed his beliefs. The fact that he's Jamaican and hasn't cut his hair since he was 19 is of course not enough to say that he's Rastafarian (ugly cliché!). On her Instagram Dreddy_Ja, However, he doesn't hesitate to repeat posts by Snoop Dogg.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNMWgAXjCE1/

He also regularly adds a rasta sticker to his IG posts.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BLtxMkGDOU8/

As a top-level sportsman, his life is made up of sacrifices, and that very (very) probably includes not using cannabis during the sporting season. But who knows, during his vacations in Jamaica, on a night out with Usain Bolt?

Mehdi Bautier