Dustin Brown upsets Alexander Zverev at the Stuttgart Open

German qualifier Dustin Brown returned from a turbulent time with injuries to upset top-seeded Alexander Zverev at the Stuttgart Open.

In the first grass-court tournament of the season ahead of Wimbledon world No 170 Brown defeated French open quarter-finalist, Zverev, 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 6-3.

Brown, who is best known for beating Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon in 2015, had not recorded a tour-level win prior to this week since the 2017 US Open and was playing just his second tour-level match of the year.

He recently returned to action having struggled with an ongoing back injury.

"It's a big win. The last few years have been a bit up and down with injuries. So I am very happy and especially that it happened in three sets which was mentally very challenging," said Brown, whose iconic dreadlocks haven't been cut since 1996.

"I stayed cool, tried to play deep and am happy to have won it."

The German reflected on his herniated disc problem and having to deal with the subsequent nerve damage.

It's just a process. I try and manage it and a lot of players have things that they have to deal with with their body. It's just part of the game

"It's just something that I have to live with now and try to manage and try to get through it and work on it," Brown told ATPTour.com.

"There are a lot of players out there who have had injuries, had surgeries that they have to manage to try to keep on playing well. But it's not an ankle that you tear and after six weeks or two months everything is fine again."

He added: "You just try and find ways to manage it. I guess it took a while to figure out and I think it's also healing and getting better and it's maybe not as bad as it used to be.

"It's just a process. I try and manage it and a lot of players have things that they have to deal with with their body. It's just part of the game."

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