Former Jamaican international tennis player Dustin Brown ended his two-week vacation in the island last week by participating in the annual Tryall Thanksgiving Tennis Classic held at the Tryall Club near Sandy Bay in Hanover.

Brown, who grew up in Montego Bay and honed his craft on the courts at Tryall, joined three other invited guests in a number of exhibition matches that were part of the day’s activities.

Richard Ferdinand, director of guest relations at Tryall, told the Jamaica Observer West they were very lucky that Brown was in Jamaica on holidays and was able to compete with other guests, who also took part in the event held annually since 1996.

Tennis professional Jan-Michael Charles Gambill, who has a career-high ATP ranking of number 14; Michael Russell who has played 115 Main Draw Singles in ATP events; Arantxa Parra Santonja, a member of the Spanish team to the 2012 London Olympic Games and who has a highest singles ranking of 46; and Irina Falconi, who had her highest WTA ranking at number 63, were the other invited players.

There were three matches: a men’s doubles, men’s singles — where Brown beat Russell — and a mixed doubles.

The German-born Brown, who rose to his highest-ever ranking at number 64 on the ATP rankings this past season, said he was happy to have played a part in the event that is used to help raise funds for charity.

“This was a lot of fun,” Brown told Observer West. “Michael Russell is a good friend and we play at the same tournaments, and is just retired. When I heard he was coming I wanted to see him; then Richard said they were having the event and I wanted to be a part of it, to help out, and it was fun.”

Brown, who is known on the tennis circuit as “Dreddy” for his long locks, said he was heading back to his base in Germany to start preparations for the 2017 season.

He added that, “It was great to come back to a place where I spent a lot of time as a kid.”