Brandon Nakashima 34/100 | Stan Wawrinka 22/10
23-year-old Brandon Nakashima has enjoyed an impressive comeback season. The American had an injury-affected 2023 campaign that saw him plummet outside the 150 in the world rankings.
But Nakashima worked his way back to form, playing plenty of tennis at Challenger level in the early portion of this season (winning one title and finishing runner-up twice). New coach Davide Sanguinette has helped him improve his forehand and serve, adding some firepower to his high-octane brand of tennis.
He slowly started to regain traction on the tour, reaching the semifinals in Stuttgart before a 3rd round showing at SW19. He carried on that impressive form on the North American hardcourt circuit, picking up back-to-back round of 16 finishes in Montreal and Cincinnati.
He would then go on to reach 4th round of a slam for only the 2nd time in his career, beating the likes of Rune and Musetti en route to the final 16 in New York. He started the Asian swing in a similarly impressive fashion, reaching the semifinals in Hangzhou before taking down Tiafoe in Japan. He was dumped out of Shanghai by Watanuki and he will be keen to rediscover his winning touch.
This has been a tough old campaign for three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka. The 39-year-old Swiss star is currently 5-13 for the season (he is yet to win back-to-back tour matches all year). He has been coy about the possibility of retirement.
I personally don’t understand why he is still playing; it would be one thing if he was having a Monfils-type season. But he has been too strong a competitor to be happy with a 5-13 record. Maybe he will look to sign off in front of his home fans at next week’s Swiss Indoors.
To be fair, the durable Swiss did look somewhat rejuvenated in Shanghai, diffusing the extreme power of Mpetshi Perricard before a gallant three-set defeat to the up-and-coming Coboli. Wawrinka is one of the most elegant players in the world but time catches up to every man (just ask Rafa and Roger).
The Verdict: Wawrinka to win in three 54/10
Wawrinka actually leads the head-to-head 2-0, winning their most recent meeting at last year’s Cincinnati Open. I have a feeling that Wawrinka could surprise this week.
I believe he is bracing himself for retirement. In that case, he will probably leave it all out there in this latter portion of the season. Nakashima has played a bucketload of tennis this year and he is fresh off a dispiriting defeat in Shanghai.