Bryce Nakashima

Again, I still text a lot of those guys on that, on that roster.

Um, by the way, you know Karpiko was a freshman on that roster? You know, like, they had some of those guy- Bryce Nakashima, freshman on that roster.

Yeah.

Reese Yakubov, our guy.

They reached the third round of the US Open, and they went all the way to win the title in this tournament.

And the doubles finals also featured another Ohio State player, which was Aiden Kim and Bryce Nakashima.

And I'm interested with the pipeline that has been going on with Ohio State and doubles lately, especially with last week's Columbus Challenger, their home campus challenger, which Brandon and Nikita won the doubles titles.

And if we look at the winner's circle of that tournament, at least since 2023, some had Ohio State affiliations, like in 2023 with Robert Cash and James Trotter.

But Theo won this match, four-six, six-two, six-one.

The match that also felt like a Challenger Tour level match on their days.

And speaking of the men's finals, let's start with the all Ohio State men's doubles finals, where Brandon Carpico and Nikita Filin defeated Aiden Kim and Bryce Nakashima 6-2 retired.

Brandon and Nikita started perfectly from the net as they capitalized on Aiden and Bryce's previous errors with their working volley not only did create their break point, but also converted it to 2-0 after going after Bryce's cross-court forehands earlier on, then smoothly consolidating their position to 3-0.

All the college guys in action in Columbus, by the way.

Dietrich, Rotgering, uh, Shelby, Colton Smith, Bryce Nakashima.

Uh, and by the way, Colton Smith taking on Aiden Mayo.

Mayo the win over Ohio State's Nikita Filin.

Uh, Bryce Nakashima seven-six in the third over Jack Kennedy.

Um, haven't even mentioned the top two seeds, the big servers, of course, young American Darwin Blanch, your number one overall seed, big serving Keegan Smith, your number two seed.

So yeah, I'm gonna be watching the action in Columbus.

So I just think that's a name you have to mention.

Obviously, again, five Buckeyes, like Nakashima had a really good summer.

Aiden Kim we've seen have success multiple falls in the past.

He's an obvious name to circle, like the number one on Ohio State.

What's the lineup going to be? And forget the whole what's the lineup going to be.

My question is plus or minus two.

Where does Nakashima start?

So we didn't mention it in the guy conversation, but what if Nikita Filin is just the guy? Like what if he also like him and Carpico might have been my favorite thing about the U.S.

All right, let's move to the bottom half of this draw.

And certainly one of the most dangerous floaters in this draw is Bryce Nakashima.

who this summer has really increased his level.

We just saw him make the Tiburon Challenger quarterfinal with a win over former Texas player Timo LeGue.

I know I had him going through out of this section, but he screams like, oh, he's gonna make it through the backdrop.

Problem is if I make him my backdrop, who gets through his section? Is it Forge? Forger of Texas? Oh, I kinda like that pick.

Oh, you know who I'm going to go with? Uh, can I cheat? Can I go, I'm gonna, I'm gonna have to name it, but I think it's going to be whoever I think you're going to get a Stevenson, Eli Stevenson of Kentucky versus Bryce Nakashima second round.

And then whoever wins and then loses to Debru in that round of 16 is going to.

Like, incredible.

And then Bryce Nakashima taking out Timo Luu, making-

Yep

... a Challenger quarterfinal.

Um, so they, they were problematic for GB back then and beat, uh, beat Britain.

That was another Bryce Nakashima situation, where suddenly there was another Lapentti.

Yeah, and it was Giovanni who beats Harvin Palmer in the final rubber, uh, to, to, to send Britain into relegation.

Um, and then Lape- j- uh, Lapentti Junior kinda never really got it going after that.