ATP: Sumit Nagal - from 509th to 98th in a single year
The Indian Sumit Nagal , who was already considering an early retirement last season, has now entered the elite circle of the top hundred tennis players.
by Stefan Bergmann
last edit: Feb 12, 2024, 07:47 pm
What a beautiful story about Sumit Nagal. After the Indian clearly won the title at the ATP Challenger 100 event in Chennai last week in the final against the top seeded Italian Luca Nardi 6:1, 6:4, the 26-year-old made his first appearance this Monday his career into the top 100 of the men's world rankings.
Ok, that alone wouldn't necessarily be worth reporting, although such a well-placed Indian tennis player in singles is a rarity. But if you look at the ATP ranking from exactly a year ago, you will find Nagal only in position 509. Before that, the South Asian had problems with his hip, which almost led to the end of his career.
"It feels surreal"
However, Nagal didn't give up, underwent surgery and played impressively consistently on the "smaller" men's tour last season. Tournament victories in the clay court challengers in Rome (Italy) and Tampere (Finland) were the highlights. At the beginning of this season, the student of the Nensel Academy surprised Alexander Bublik at the start of the Australian Open , whom he surprisingly defeated in three sets.
On the news service have." Nagal is the first Indian top 100 player since 2019, when Pranjesh Gunneswaran last achieved the feat.
The Indian tennis hero is also in action on home soil this week. Nagal is playing at the ATP Challenger 100 tournament in Bengaluru and will face Frenchman Geoffrey Blancaneaux as number two.