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Rising American star Brandon Nakashima admitted that he feels pretty good after making back-to-back ATP finals. Nakashima finished runner-up in Los Cabos a week ago, while last week he finished runner-up in Atlanta. “It feels pretty good, for me it’s quite an accomplishment,” Nakashima told the ATP website.
“For me, it shows that I’m heading in the right direction after a slow clay-court and grass-court season. It gives me a lot of confidence coming into this hard-court swing. I’m looking to just build off of it and keep improving and keep getting better”.
Nakashima, 20, happy with the improvement he has made in the mental aspect. “I think more than anything, it’s my mental game,” Nakashima said, reflecting on his biggest improvement in 2021. “It hasn’t been easy, especially after having that slow clay-court swing, not winning too many matches in Europe, and then having to come over to the hard courts and try to gain some momentum and show that I belong with these guys and that I can play on the ATP Tour.
“That has been the biggest thing for me, especially for my confidence. And then also the minor things, like the technique and my footwork on the court I think has definitely improved from last year”.
Nakashima aims the Next Gen ATP Finals
Nakashima is ranked at No.
6 on the Race to Mialn list. “It’s definitely a goal of mine to make it to Milan for the Next Gen Finals at the end of the year. It would show that I’ve had a solid and consistent year,” Nakashima said.
“The main goal for me is to win some of these ATP events and just keep building on the ranking. But it would really be nice to qualify for that at the end of the year and just give my best against those other top young players too”.