Nakashima excited about making Next Gen Finals, approves of on-court coaching

American youngster Brandon Nakashima has had a breakthrough season on the ATP Tour in 2021, beginning the year at World No. 170 and rising to a current career-high of No.63.

Due to his stellar play this year, which saw him reach back-to-back finals at Los Cabos and Atlanta, the 20-year old qualified for the Next Gen ATP Finals in Turin. Nakashima will be making his debut at the event and gave his thoughts prior to the 21-and-under event.

"It is really motivating to see all these young players have such a great year and doing well at the big tournaments and competing well against the top guys," said Nakashima. "It is great to see the level of the Next Generation so high and out of all these guys, I have been super impressed with all their level throughout the whole year. There is no question all of us have the potential to do something great next year."

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The San Diego native also spoke on some new innovations to the event, particularly about receiving on-court coaching, which is allowed at the Next Gen Finals.

I think the coaching is going to be really big, just to see how it feels out there and see if they include it in some of the ATP [Tour] events next year," added Nakashima. "I myself kind of take directions from the coach pretty well and am able to apply them pretty quickly, whether in training or matches, so I think it'll be cool to try and see how it goes.

"It could either help a lot or hurt me maybe a little bit. I think it's always helpful to get your coach's opinion when you're fighting out there, just to see their point of view on the match."

The Next Gen ATP Finals is being hosted in Milan, Italy and will run from November 9-13, 2021. Nakashima has been drawn in Group A and will play Carlos Alcaraz, Holger Rune and Juan Manuel Cerundolo in order to qualify for the knockout stage.