DUSTIN Brown goes by the nickname Dreddy Tennis but it is the prospect of facing Andy Murray on this form which really fills opponents with dread.

The flamboyant German-Jamaican, who used to travel on the tour in a VW Camper Van, re-introduced himself to the Centre Court crowd but his hopes of reprising his famous 2015 second-round win against Rafa Nadal evaporated into the stifling South West London air by a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in the space of just 96 entertaining minutes.

Not only did Brown laugh off all the days and weeks of speculation about the severity of the Scot’s pre-tournament hip injury, he bemoaned his utter inability to cause him any discomfort on court whatsoever. The defending champion continues his record of never failing to reach at least the third round at this venue, where he faces a third creative shot-maker in a row in Italy’s Fabio Fognini.

“Well, if he has a problem with his hip, I don’t want to play against him when his hip is good,” said Brown. “Obviously there was speculation about it, you know, people saying he’s not walking or whatever. So I hit a lot of drop shots in the beginning, tried to get him in to see how the hip is, pull him into the forehand. But from my opinion, he doesn’t really care about any of that stuff.

“Most of the guys you play, you can try to find a way where you know you can hurt them,” added the 32-year-old World No 97. “But today I had the feeling it made no difference what I did. If I stayed back, if I attacked, if I came in, if I chipped, if I hit the ball and came in. He pretty had much a good answer for everything.”

The Scotsman and the dreadlocked Rastafarian German made something of an odd couple. This was only their second meeting across a net – the first was a straight-sets win for Murray at the 2010 US Open – but they had shared a slot in the Singapore Slammers roster in the IPTL in 2015 and been messaging each other periodically ever since. Brown had even more respect for him afterwards, saying that even Roger Federer may be unable to stop him.

“I think he played very well,” said Brown. “And I think the more matches he gets, the better he’s going to feel and the more comfortable he’s going to feel. He hasn’t had as much grass matches as he probably normally would have with when he plays Queen’s and winning it most of the time, then coming here. But the deeper it goes, the more difficult it’s going to be to beat him. I think Roger, playing his game and being aggressive and coming in, that would probably be the right way to do it. Like I said, I tried. But the way he played today, and I and think it’s only going to get better, it’s going to be very difficult.”

Emerging first to a Centre Court crowd still drained from the tension of the Jo Konta-Donna Vekic match, Brown’s arrival promised some light relief, the big dude flipping his racket casually between points. The man whose diving volley against Joao Sousa in the first round had earned him Shot of the Day on the BBC’s coverage was sure to offer another few highlights here.

His points tend to end up with him at the net, whether because he charges there after his first, or second, serves, or because he manages to manufacture a ground stroke or drop shot to get him in there. And there were bravura Brown points aplenty here, whether it was throwing in a drop overhead en route to a cute disguised lob winner, a slice volley which seemed to stopped dead before bouncing off at right angles, or a ferocious drive volley which fairly whistled past the Scot and into the corner.

Murray professed himself happier with his serving stats than he had been in the previous round, and even flying ants, an occupational hazard at SW19 yesterday, weren’t unable to worry him. Two service breaks followed in the third set and before long the men were exchanging a joke at the net. “I just said: ‘too good, basically’. ‘Thanks for that lesson’,” said Brown.