Jamaica's No.1 tennis player Dustin Brown slams the system in his country that doesn’t encourage others sports.

Bhagya L Ayyavoo

Olympics, World Championships, Commonwealth Games are for us, not ATP World Tour and Grand Slams - Jamaica's No.1 player Dustin Brown admits that tennis has zero support in his nation where he struggles to even find practice partners.

Jamaicans have their names on 38 Commonwealth gold medals, 12 World Championships gold. But as far as tennis is concerned, not many out of the 2.6 million people know much about the racquet sport. The tall, lanky Jamaican star Dustin Brown, ranked 140 in the world and the only known face from the African nation is at the Aircel Chennai Open tournament playing the qualifying rounds.

The land that is wonderland for athletes like Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell doesn't welcome other sportsmen the same way, says Brown, "I am No.1(tennis player) in my country, probably the best player Jamaica ever had. But, I have no support from the tennis federation in my country, which is kind of sad. Also, people in Jamaica basically don't know how I am doing. I actually called my dad, who is in Jamaica and told him that I won today, because it's not going to be printed there in the newspapers."

He looks like James Blake of old times with long braided hair. But the comparison stops right there. While Blake, who hails from the United States of America is in a country where the sport gets the best attention, it's exactly the opposite for the 25-year-old Brown.

The rising star, who has a German mother and a Jamaican father moved to the African nation when he was five. When most kids his age took to the tracks, he fell in love with the racquet game, "I started tennis when I was five in Germany and then moved to Jamaica. But, there's no lawn tennis in Jamaica that leaves me with no one to practice. I like playing for my country. I am happy to go somewhere and see our flag. I like doing it. But it's terrible if you don't get some sort of help."

It has been hard work for him for the last seven years, "It's not easy to get wildcards for bigger tournaments. I have to work my way up, starting with Satellite tournaments and Futures. I have been playing Futures till the middle of last year. That's when I started playing really well. I played five Challenger finals and won one. That got my ranking up and I am here.

After a fairly easy match with Jan Minar of Czech Republic, Brown is in the final qualifier. With one match to go, Brown is keeping his fingers crossed to get his name in the main draw of India's only ATP tournament. "No pressure. Of course, it will be nice (if I make the main draw). It's the first tournament of the year. I came here with no expectations because I had a good last six months already."

Brown's Chennai success has reached Jamaica this time. And for the first time since he turned pro in 2002, Dustin was surprised to hear from his father that he was on TV, "Couple of days ago, for the first time I got to hear that I was on TV in Jamaica. There was this little report on TV, that I am 140 in the world and they were saying, ‘he came out of nowhere'. I have been here for 7 years on the tour, playing Futures and everything and they never did anything with my results".

Brown with his impressive looks and a powerful game is determined to set a new trend in his world where sport means only athletics. Come on Dustin Brown, you can do it!