Brandon Nakashima cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 lead in his second-round Wimbledon match on Wednesday against a dangerous grass-court player in Jordan Thompson. The 2022 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF champion hit 24 winners to just five unforced errors through two sets in as flawless of a performance as you will see this fortnight.
But then the thoughts began. One year ago against the same opponent, Nakashima won the first two sets 6-2, 6-2 and lost the match in five sets.
“Obviously those thoughts kind of came into my mind, up two sets again and playing really well. But the player I am this year compared to last year, I feel like it’s a completely different player,” Nakashima told ATPTour.com. “Whether it’s game-wise, serving and returning, obviously having more confidence playing a lot more matches on the grass definitely helped. But I just try to stay focused and not let those thoughts translate into my game.”
This year, the 2022 San Diego champion finished the job, ousting Thompson in a tidy one hour and 37 minutes to reach the third round. Nakashima has won more main draw matches this week than at his past six Grand Slam tournaments combined.
“I think more than anything, it was just confidence. Last year at the Slams, I lost first round in all four of them. I was playing well, just wasn’t able to get past that first round,” Nakashima said. “Most of them were five-set matches and it was tough to go through those moments. But you kind of have to experience those to have these moments where you play better and you can gain more confidence to win these matches.”
It is easy to look at Nakashima’s 2023 and see that he plummeted from a career-high No. 43 to outside the Top 150 in six months. But the numbers do not tell the whole story.
“Last year was definitely a lot of firsts for me, gaining more experience as an established player inside the Top 100. Maybe at the start of the year, I was a little bit injured, and wasn’t playing as many matches as I would have hoped,” Nakashima said. “So, definitely, the confidence was a little bit low. As a player, those tough moments are tough to get out of at some points. But I’m happy with the way we’re progressing this year and bouncing back from last year.”
Although the American did not blame it for his tough stretch, Nakashima struggled with a left knee injury early in the year that kept him out for nearly two months. He played just eight matches in the first four months of the season and was never able to get back up to speed.
The 22-year-old has taken pride in how he has responded to that adversity. By reaching the third round at Wimbledon, he is back up to No. 53 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. He reached an ATP Tour semi-final in Stuttgart, the third round in Barcelona — there he upset Andrey Rublev — and tallied a 26-8 record on the ATP Challenger Tour this year.
“For talented young players, it’s nice rising and getting to the top and getting the ranking high. But your next few years, if you have more expectations, that’s where it kind of shows your personality, shows your character a little bit more trying to deal with those expectations,” Nakashima said. “Even after the year that I had last year, people can think, ‘Oh, it was just a one-year thing that he did well, and he’s always going to be an average player’. But just the way I dealt with that adversity and brought myself back to where I want to be, I think a lot of people should think about [that].
“It’s not easy as a young player, especially after the great year that I had a couple years ago… I was training hard every day last year, similar to how I was this year, and I’m just happy the results are paying off.”
Last October, Nakashima began working with a new coach: Davide Sanguinetti, the Italian who won two ATP Tour titles and cracked the world’s Top 50.
“We’ve been working a lot. I’m working a lot on his mind more than his shots,” Sanguinetti said. “I’m working a little bit on the shots. But he has such good groundstrokes and everything. Good serve. We’re working a lot on his forehand and right now it looks like it is working, so I’m happy right now. We are on the right path because we want to be Top 20 at the end of this year. But even if it’s tough — I’m not saying it’s easy — let’s see. Maybe if we get some luck in some tournament, who knows?”
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According to Sanguinetti, his favourite thing about Nakashima is both good and bad.
“He’s really calm all the time,” Sanguinetti said. “And sometimes I would like him [to be] a little bit [of a] firecracker, like [to] explode, but he doesn’t. But also when he’s focused, he’s a machine.”
The former World No. 42 raved about his charge’s dedication and work ethic.
“He always listens, he always tries to do what you ask him to do, which for a coach is great,” Sanguinetti said. “He is always looking for something. He’s like a sponge. He’s trying to get from me all the secrets, even if he doesn’t ask. But he’s always trying to listen to everything that I try to tell him.”
Nakashima will hope that continues to pay off as he tries to work his way through the Wimbledon draw. He will try to reach the fourth round at the grass-court major for the second time on Friday when he plays 16th seed Ugo Humbert.
“It feels great, especially after the year I had last year and having some troubles at the Grand Slams last year, to be having some good matches here and to be advancing to the third round,” Nakashima said. “It’s a good feeling.”
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