After winning the Rome Challenger: Sumit Nagal wants to attack the top 100 again
Sumit Nagal is the best single player from India. After a long injury break, he wants to start again towards the top of the world.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit:
May 02, 2023, 03:22 pm
He's the man you always have to look twice at in the tableau - after all, only a letter separates him from a legend. Most recently: on the pitch it was more of a world that lay between Rafael Nadal and his almost namesake Nagal.
Because Nagal, already number 122 in the ATP ranking in 2020, had been out for a long time due to injury and slipped down to 638th place. But now things are looking up again for the 25-year-old: last week Nagal played his way out of qualifying at the Challenger tournament in Rome, won 6-3, 6-2 against Jesper de Jong in the final - and hit along the way also two top 200 people.
Back then, at the US Open...
Two of Nagal's encounters in particular stuck with German-speaking tennis fans: against Dominic Thiem on his way to the US Open title in 2020; and a match at the US Open 2019 against Roger Federer - from whom Nagal stole the first set at the time.
In 2018, Nagal moved from David Ferrer's academy in Alicante to Germany, to the nensel academy in Peine near Hanover, i.e. to Sascha Nensel, the ex-coach of Nicolas Kiefer, Julia Görges and Andrea Petkovic.
"He is the first Indian to win a Challenger tournament on European sand," Nensel told tennisnet about the Rome success. "He's quite well known in India." They currently have five players in the top 100 in doubles, with 43-year-old Rohan Bopanna in 13th; in the singles, however, Nagal as the current number 347 is the top man. Thanks to the Rome title, he is back in 254th place in the live ranking. And is therefore within reach of the qualifying tableaus at the really big tournaments.
After his hip surgery, he was out of the tournament business for six months, and on his comeback he suffered a torn abdominal muscle - another two months break. "It all took an incredibly long time," says Nensel. "He was already in 122nd place, won the set against Roger, got a challenger in South America. It was his turn."
With his victory in Rome, Nagal has now put himself back within reach of qualifying competitions at the Grand Slam tournaments - an important success on the way to the ultimate goal. "And that," says Nensel, is the top 100."