There are five American men ranked within the ATP top 50.
But Brandon Nakashima is showing there may be at the very least a sixth that must be getting some love.
Nakashima pulled off the most important upset on Day 1 of the US Open, powering to a shocking 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 victory over No. 15 Holger Rune.
“It’s nice to see a bunch of other young guys or lower-ranked guys difficult, and pushing all the way down to latest highs,” Nakashima said of the young U.S. contingent. “I’d say that that’s what we would like to be on this list of the highest American players, but we’re just working hard and clearly wish all of the American players one of the best.
“I’m just sort of looking forward to the following match. It’s going to be one other tough match at any time when I play. But we’ve just got to sort of take it one match at a time and hopefully I can proceed playing the extent that I did today.”
While it marks the second straight yr that Rune has gone out in the primary round at Flushing, it doesn’t detract from either Nakashima’s dominant outing or his impressive bounce-back summer.
He fell from a career-best No. 43 to outside the highest 150 in only six months.
But last October, Nakashima began working with a latest coaching staff led by Italian Davide Sanguinetti, a former top 50 player himself who won two ATP Tour titles.
The impact has been quick and clear.
“They gave me loads of perspective on what every player goes through of their profession,” Nakashima said. “They definitely gave me loads of insights through the ups and downs, just to maintain working hard and managing those moments, when it’s good or bad. But, yeah, they definitely helped me lots in all features of my game, and in addition the mental part as well.”
Nakashima now has 4 wins over top-25 foes this summer, also taking out Arthur Fils, Sebastian Baez, and American Taylor Fritz.
He had just 4 ATP top 20 wins for his profession coming into this season.
“Yeah, they definitely helped me lots with that confidence, whether it’s off the court or in practices, just sort of getting that confidence back,” Nakashima said.
“Firstly of the yr their advice was to plan the schedule where I played just a few challenges to start with of the yr, got loads of wins under my belt. And even when it was on the lower level and just sort of getting those wins and rising the rating a bit bit, after which once I got back into ATP tournaments, it’s only a matter of just sort of staying consistent with my game.”
