The Brandon Bandwagon - a Brandon Nakashima appreciation thread

Aabye5

Aabye5

Talk Tennis Guru
I saw him win a Futures tournament at my club three years ago. He didn’t seem to have any big weapons that would take him to a Top 10 ranking someday in the future. Also saw Taylor Fritz win a Challenger event at another club nearby a few months later and he at least has a huge serve and FH with a mediocre BH. At that time it seemed like Taylor had much more upside. I saw Taylor at Indian Wells a couple of months ago and he has improved a lot.
 
Aabye5 said:
Yes, although he did pick it up in the tiebreak, which could be good sign.
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I expect he’ll play better as the tournament progresses. I thought he volleyed especially poorly today which is unusual for him.

I’m excited to see the rest of the American contingent should be a good bracket
 
I don't know if he's injured or not, but his serve this tournament was sitting at 10 mph lower than where he was at the end of last season. First serve the last two matches was consistently around 100-103 and he ramped it up to 113-115 occasionally. That's not going to cut it. He was generating very few free points this tournament and his forehand is still far from being a weapon. He's got some work to do.
 
happyandbob said:
I don't know if he's injured or not, but his serve this tournament was sitting at 10 mph lower than where he was at the end of last season. First serve the last two matches was consistently around 100-103 and he ramped it up to 113-115 occasionally. That's not going to cut it. He was generating very few free points this tournament and his forehand is still far from being a weapon. He's got some work to do.
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The commentators were mentioning his placement this tournament. Not sure if this is tactical decision or injury.
 
Aabye5 said:
The commentators were mentioning his placement this tournament. Not sure if this is tactical decision or injury.
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Well, he did seem to get a few more first serves in than usual, but if he has to drop to junior serve speeds to get to 70% first serves... it's seemingly a poor tactical choice given the results of this tournament -- struggling to beat Millman and losing to Thompson. Given his late 2021 trajectory, he should have handled both.
 
happyandbob said:
Well, he did seem to get a few more first serves in than usual, but if he has to drop to junior serve speeds to get to 70% first serves... it's seemingly a poor tactical choice given the results of this tournament -- struggling to beat Millman and losing to Thompson. Given his late 2021 trajectory, he should have handled both.
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If you look Jannik Sinner last year, I think he had some struggles with his serve as he switched to a new stance.

Is a double fault with a new serve better than a "practice" serve (right fundamentals but at half speed), so to speak? I guess it depends on the player.


Look at Rafa, for example. I would think since his game is (was?) about minimizing errors, he would hate to see all the double faults he hit at the AO. But he's at an age, where maybe the cheap point of a good serve is worth the high fault count. Brandon likewise seems risk averse.

But I would have to look again to see if he's made a change at all.
 
stringertom said:
They have rabid fan bases. :-D
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play_on_words-sports_fans-rabid_fans-animals-talking_dogs-animals-CX302261_low.jpg
 
Aabye5 said:
Here are the stats for the two matches @happyandbob, but of course no service speed statistics. That's top secret....
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At one point in the second set, I think Nakashima was at 100% of 2nd serve points won. He definitely had more velocity on the first serve this match than he had in Dallas though. It's interesting that he won a lower percentage of 1st serve points even though he had more mph. It was a weird match.
 
Tough loss against Mannarino yesterday, but good fight from Brandon after losing that first set.
 
Aabye5 said:
Are you Branding Perry a backseat driver...
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No, they had different routes to navigate. The Katy Kart was headed one way and the Brandwagon couldn’t go there. Russell didn’t exercise his rights to half her earnings out of love and respect.
 
Brandon takes down Mannarino, the man who ousted him from Delray not that long ago, and will next Tiafoe. There is a 95% chance of volleys and dropshots in this matchup.
 
I think brandon is the reason fritz been playing better after fritz kicked his ass in honolulu. the same can't be said for the ryan brothers.
 
He played great against Mannarino, and not bad against Tiafoe, definitely making progress. His strokes are so much cleaner than Brooksby's it's hard for me to accept that he's not the better player.
 
atatu said:
He played great against Mannarino, and not bad against Tiafoe, definitely making progress. His strokes are so much cleaner than Brooksby's it's hard for me to accept that he's not the better player.
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I think right now the biggest differences between the two that I see -- 1) Brooksby's movement (or anticipation) is better than Nakashima, 2) Brooksby's use of short angles and shot placement is considerably better than Nakashima, and 3) Brooksby's shot tolerance is better than Nakashima's. Nakashima has a better serve and net game and prettier ground strokes, but as-of today I would guess that Brooksby wins 7/10 H2H.
 
happyandbob said:
I think right now the biggest differences between the two that I see -- 1) Brooksby's movement (or anticipation) is better than Nakashima, 2) Brooksby's use of short angles and shot placement is considerably better than Nakashima, and 3) Brooksby's shot tolerance is better than Nakashima's. Nakashima has a better serve and net game and prettier ground strokes, but as-of today I would guess that Brooksby wins 7/10 H2H.
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I agree, but don't underestimate the power of Nakashima's net game. It's hard to get past him.
 
I have to give Brooksby credit, he knows how to win. Nakashima has a tendency to let chances slip away from him, but I'm hoping after a few years on the tour, he will figure it out. Closing out that match against Mannarino was a positive sign, a year ago I think he loses that match.
 
atatu said:
I have to give Brooksby credit, he knows how to win. Nakashima has a tendency to let chances slip away from him, but I'm hoping after a few years on the tour, he will figure it out. Closing out that match against Mannarino was a positive sign, a year ago I think he loses that match.
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He keeps getting better every time I see him play, I continue to be optimistic in his future. Even his serve mph has been increasing, he had a weird dip in the early season tournaments but he's back up to low 120s flat serve which is where he was serving at the end of last season. I think he can probably add a few more mph as he develops his man muscles.
 
Brandon has lost every match he's played to Tiafoe so far, but two of them have been hard-fought 3-setters. This was the second of those matches, and he played lights out in the first set.

The final set hinged on a few double faults, but it's tough when you are playing a player who has your number. Great stuff from Brandon.
 
Aabye5 said:
Brandon has lost every match he's played to Tiafoe so far, but two of them have been hard-fought 3-setters. This was the second of those matches, and he played lights out in the first set.

The final set hinged on a few double faults, but it's tough when you are playing a player who has your number. Great stuff from Brandon.
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He really should have won the second set tibreaker, up 5-4 and serving. Still it's only his second year on the tour and it looks like his forehand is improving a little.
 
Brandon fell to Casper Ruud today in two quick sets, 63 62. Brandon did show some fight in this match, and it will interesting to see him improve as he gets more experience on this surface.
 
Brandon has booked his spot in the second round after recording his first victory in the main draw at Roland Garros, deflecting the magical powers of Majchrzak over 5-sets, to take it 64 26 46 76(3) 62.
 
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