B-Nak, San Diego, Wimbledon, Next Gen: Everything you wanted to know about Brandon Nakashima (but never had time to find out) – updated in October 2024
Former junior world No 3 Brandon Nakashima is one of the rising stars on the ATP Tour. Here are responses to some common questions you might have about the American
Brandon Nakashima by Panoramic
Who is Brandon Nakashima?
Brandon Nakashima is a professional tennis player from the United States. His nickname is B-Nak.
What is Nakashima’s best Grand Slam performance?
Nakashima has reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam twice. He made the last 16 for the first time at Wimbledon in 2022 and then matched that run at the US Open in 2024, beating Holger Rune and Lorenzo Musetti before falling to Alexander Zverev.
What is Nakashima’s highest career ranking?
The American’s career-high ranking is No 35, achieved for the first time in September 2024. You can find his current ranking and ranking history on his ATP Tour profile page.
How many ATP TITLES has he won in his career?
Nakashima has won one ATP singles title in his career, which came in San Deigo in 2022. He dropped only one set in five matches, beating Christopher O’Connell in the semi-final and Marcos Giron in the final.
Did Brandon Nakashima win the Next Gen Finals title in 2022?
Yes he did. Not only that, he did it without losing a single match in the process. He beat Jiri Lehecka in the final to become the first American to win the coveted title for the best 21-and-under players in the year.
Which country is Brandon Nakashima from?
Nakashima represents the United States. He was born and still resides in San Diego, California. Brandon’s mother grew up in Vietnam and moved to California at the age of five while his father is of Japanese ancestry but was born in California.
Brandon, who also has a younger brother Bryce, says the best advice he ever received were from his parents, “Work hard and stay the course and good things will happen.”
Was he a good junior?
Nakashima reached a career-high ITF junior combined ranking of No. 3 in December 2018. His biggest title came at the ITF Junior Masters in October 2018, where he defeated top-ranked junior Tseng Chun-hsin in the final. He also reached the semi-final of the US Open boys singles event in 2019 – his final season on the junior circuit.
Which college did Nakashima go to?
Brandon enrolled at the University of Virginia when he was 17 years old and was named 2019 ACC Freshman of the Year before turning pro. According to the ATP Tour website, Nakashima speaks of his college experience quite fondly. “Going to college helped a lot,” said Nakashima. “The atmosphere was incredible and maturing there was important.”
What did Nakashima accomplish in the summer of 2021?
Nakashima reached his first ATP Tour singles finals at Los Cabos in July 2021, where he was beaten by Britain’s Cameron Norrie. The following week, he reached the final at the Atlanta Open, where he was defeated by John Isner. He has won two ATP Challenger tour titles and two ITF World Tour titles thus far in his career.
How much prize money has he won in his career?
As of October 7, 2024, his total career prize money is more than $4.48 million. You can find his updated prize money statistics on his ATP profile page.
What is Nakashima’s style of play?
As our fellow writer Chris Oddo describes in this feature, Nakashima has “a versatile, well-balanced game, backed by a plus serve and return, and the even-keeled temperament of a player five or 10 years older.”
Who are Brandon Nakashima’s idols?
Nakashima says his idol is Roger Federer, but he claims to play more like Novak Djokovic. In an interview to the ATP Tour website, Nakashima says, “My dream doubles partner would probably be Roger Federer, just because he’s a legend of the sport and it would be a real honour to play with him.”
After practicing with Djokovic in 2020, Nakashima spoke about his admiration for the Serb as well. “The biggest thing I’ve learned from practicing from Novak Djokovic would probably be just the way he goes about everything. It’s how he’s super-focused, pays attention to all the little details both on the court when he’s practising and during the matches as well.”
Is Brandon Nakashima on social media?
Nakashima is on Instagram where he has more than 39,000 followers. He is also on Twitter, though he hasn’t tweeted in a while, where he has more than 1,400 followers.
