India’s top-ranked men’s singles tennis player Sumit Nagal has revealed his plans for the upcoming season while shedding light on how he made a comeback to the court following a long-term injury.
World number 138, Nagal is the top-ranked men’s single tennis player in the country. The 26-year-old, hailing from Jhajjar, Haryana, broke into the top-150 this year after making a comeback from a serious hip injury.
Nagal suffered a hip injury in 2021 and underwent a surgery to fix the issue. After a slow 2022, Nagal made a roaring comeback in 2023, winning two Challengers titles and reaching the finals of two others.
Nagal started off by winning the Garden Open in Rome, a clay-court event, after coming up from the qualifiers. He defeated Dutch tennis star Jesper de Jong in the final to become the first Indian player to win a title on European clay.
He then went on to clinch the Tampere Challenger in Finland, defeating the likes of Jiri Vesely, Joao Lucas Reis da Silva, Aziz Dougaz, Daniel Rincon and Dalibor Svrcina.
Nagal also reached the finals of NO Open in Tulln, where he lost to Vt Kopriva in the final, before losing to Corentin Moutet in the final of the HPP Open in Helsinki later this year.
Speaking exclusively to India Today, Nagal revealed that staying fit was the key for him to get back in rhythm. World number 138, Nagal, recently made the call to miss India’s upcoming Davis Cup tie against Pakistan, since the match will be played on grass, a surface that does not suit his playing style. Nagal had also reached the quarter-final stage of the 2023 Asian Games in China.
“It was tough earlier last year, the ranking dropped. I was not getting into the tournaments. Couldn’t really plan the schedule, everything was done at the last minute. In February, when I played the Indian challenger, that at least give me a ranking where I could enter the qualifiers. To be honest, from April, it was more about just playing and getting into the tournaments, staying fit to find the rhythm. And once the rhythm was there, I was winning more matches and getting more comfortable with the body,” said Nagal.
Revealing his plans for the upcoming season, Nagal said he will start off with the qualifiers of the Australian Open before playing clay-court event in South America. Nagal is the only Indian player to win two Challenger events on European clay.
“I’m going to start in Australia and will be playing the qualifiers of the Australian Open, and then I’ll be heading to South America for clay-court events,” Nagal added.
He was recently involved in the fifth season of the Tennis Premier League, where he represented Gujarat Panthers. Nagal is the most-expensive player in the TPL season 5 auction, fetching a bid worth Rs 18.50 lakh.
Gujarat Panthers finished sixth in the TPL points table, with 192 points from five matches and missed out on a spot in the semi-finals. Bengaluru SG Mavericks, a team lead by Sania Mirza won the competition, defeating Bengal Wizards in the final.
