Nakashima: ‘My Time Will Come’

Last November, Brandon Nakashima hit his greatest height. The American captured the Next Gen ATP Finals title, previously won by Hyeon Chung, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. Each of those players quickly vaulted to the top of the sport, either by reaching a major semi-final or cracking the Top 10 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

Nakashima has taken the slower approach to his climb since emerging victorious in Milan. Entering his second-round match of the Mubadala Citi DC Open against former World No. 1 Andy Murray, the American is 9-13 on the season. Whereas some players would be antsy to continue their ascent, Nakashima is patient.

“I always thought to myself that you’re always going to have some good results, you’re going to have some bad results,” Nakashima said. “But at the end of the day, it’s important to keep developing your game and staying healthy out there. And if I keep doing that and keep enjoying it, I’m sure my time will come and I’ll have those opportunities.”

It has not simply been a case of disappointing results this year for the 21-year-old Californian. At the end of the preseason, Nakashima began to feel pain in his left knee. Despite not being 100 per cent, he competed in Australia to begin the season in the hopes of playing some matches.

The pain lingered through the early months of the year, so Nakashima and his team decided to take off time after Miami to physically recover and get his body right.

“Honestly, this year, I’ve learned that you can’t take things for granted out here. You can’t take your body for granted, your health. At the end of the year, I unfortunately had to miss a few tournaments, and I never really had that before,” Nakashima said. “So it really gave me perspective to be thankful that you’re healthy at the end of the day and you’re able to play these tournaments, no matter the result.

“Obviously, you want to do well at all the tournaments. But I just try to take each day at a time. You’re not always going to have good moments, there’s definitely going to be some tough moments as well.”

When Nakashima was out, he was not twiddling his thumbs. The American worked hard to rehab his knee and even did so in Italy, near Monte-Carlo, for part of the process.

“The days were still long. We were spending a lot of time in the gym, a lot of time with the physios and the doctors to try to make sure that I got better as soon as possible,” Nakashima said. “So there wasn’t much downtime, honestly, the days were still very long. But I tried to enjoy it as much as possible and look for the positives in everything.”

Nakashima returned a few weeks before Roland Garros and has consistently been in action since. Signs of good form came in Lyon, where he reached his first semi-final of the season. Last week in Atlanta, he battled hard against red-hot countryman Christopher Eubanks and on Tuesday, Nakashima defeated Atlanta finalist Aleksandar Vukic in Washington.

The American is not comparing his path to that of any other players. Just because Alcaraz won the Next Gen ATP Finals crown in 2021 and finished ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by Pepperstone the following year does not mean failing to do so is a reflection on Nakashima.

“At the end of the day, each person, each player, has their own path. It doesn’t matter if you win the same tournament, or at the same age or whatever. All these players, their goal is to get to the top. Each player has their own journey,” Nakashima said. “Maybe it takes them a shorter amount of time to reach their goals, or maybe other players, it takes them a little while longer.

“You have to go through these tough moments or these experiences to get you to where you want to be. I’m just trying to focus on myself out here. I know that my game is improving each day. My time will come. It’s just a matter of sticking to it and sticking to the process.”

Nakashima believes that his game is developing well and that there is simply a lot of great competition on the ATP Tour. He pointed to Eubanks’ recent run of results as an example of many players being capable of breaking through at any moment. With that in mind, he is confident that by continuing to work hard, the results will come.

Most of all, Nakashima is taking in the whole experience. The ability to travel the world to play tennis in front of thousands of fans is not lost on him.

“I’m trying to enjoy it as much as possible. Of course, there are difficult times out there,” Nakashima said. “But it’s just trying to take it one day at a time and trying to enjoy every moment, because at the end of the day, not many people get to have these experiences, travelling around the world and playing these tournaments. So even when times get tough, I try to say to myself, I should be very thankful and privileged to be living this life.”