The rising American sensation continues to make steady progress up the rankings to emerge as one of the NextGen stars. We take a look at the tennis star in more detail, including who Brandon Nakashima’s coach is.
Brandon Nakashima continues to go from strength to strength and reached his first ever Grand Slam fourth round at Wimbledon. The American lost a tight five-set contest to eventual runner-up Nick Kyrgios after upsetting 13th seed Denis Shapovalov in the second round.
He is now into the second round at the 2022 US Open where he faces Grigor Dimitrov.
His breakout 2021 season
Nakashima was a highly touted youngster on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior circuit, winning the 2018 ITF Junior Masters.
He continued to made strides over the next few years, but really made a name for himself in 2021.
At Los Cabos, he beat Sam Querrey and John Isner en route to the final before losing in straight sets to Cameron Norrie.
Nakashima made it back to back ATP Finals when he reached the championship match in Atalanta a week later, but Isner got his revenge with a straight sets win. However, the run meant Nakashima cracked the top 100 for the first time, coming in at world No. 89.
He qualified for the 2021 Next Generation ATP Finals, losing to Sebastian Korda in five sets in the semi-finals. At the French Open in 2022, he reached his first Grand Slam third round but lost to 3rd seed Alexander Zverev.
Brandon Nakashima’s parents and ethnicity
The young tennis star was born in San Diego, California, on 3 August 2001.
Brandon Nakashima’s parents are Wesley Nakashima (dad) and Christina Nakashima (mom) and they are both pharmacists. He has a younger brother, Bryce.
Both his parents were born in the US but have Japanese and Vietnamese heritage. Brandon was reportedly initiated into tennis by his Vietnamese maternal grandfather when he was just three years old.
He went on to play for University of Virginia as a 17-year-old and was named 2019 ACC Freshman of the Year.
Who is Brandon Nakashima’s coach?
Brandon Nakashima’s coach is former Serbian tennis star Dusan Vemic. Vemic retired from professional tennis in 2011, and briefly worked with 20-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic.
The 46-year-old has been coaching Nakashima since May 2020. In his professional career he reached a career-high ranking of 146 in the singles.
In 2008, Vemic reached the doubles semi-finals of the French Open and the quarter-finals at the US Open with partner Bruno Soares.
He also played doubles with the likes of Ivan Karlovic, Jamie Murray, Mischa Zverev and Djokovic during his career.
In the 2010 Australian Open, Vemic and Karlovic made the doubles semi-finals before losing to Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic.
He remains a coach of the Serbian Davis Cup team and was head coach of the most successful doubles team of all time, Americans Mike and Bob Bryan, also known as the Bryan Brothers.
How far do you think Brandon will go at Wimbledon? Let us know in the comments below!