LOS ANGELES — If you haven't heard of Brandon Nakashima, you will soon.
Not because the San Diego native has climbed from No. 355 in the men's world tennis rankings at the start of 2020 to a career-best No. 49 last week after he reached the third round at the French Open and followed up with a five-set loss to volatile Nick Kyrgios in the round of 16 at Wimbledon last month.
Nakashima, who will be 21 on Aug. 3 and is now ranked No. 56, is the fifth-youngest player in the men's top 100. He's got a terrific backhand, strong court sense, and a solid serve that makes up in precision what it might lack in power. Through last week he had won 73.95% of his first-serve points in 2022, not far behind 21-time Grand Slam singles winner Novak Djokovic (74.54%) and world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev (76.38%).
