Sumit Nagal came through a trial by fire, literally, on Friday night at the KSLTA Stadium in Bengaluru. India’s top ranked singles player was in a spot of bother before outslugging Adam Walton 7-5, 6-2 in the quarter-finals of the DafaNews Bengaluru Open.
Night conditions in the Garden City, situated right in the heart of the Cubbon Park are not easy at all. Yet, Sumit was foussed and pulled of a creditable win against Adam Walton, an Aussie journeyman.
Having broken into the Top 100 of the ATP singles ranking on Monday, a high for Indian tennis, Sumit is in no position to sit back and relax. He knows the Challenger circuit life is a challenge in every sense, physical, travel-wise and playing in different conditions, weather-wise and in terms of court conditions.
Indeed, the first set was hard by any stretch of imagination where the fighting skills and mental strength of Sumit stood out. Playing in Challenger events abroad is one thing and competing at home, with all this hype, quite another.
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There is pressure of expectation from within, and the crowds. Yet, so far, Sumit has kept himself grounded in a theatre where unexpected journeymen can pull the rug from under the feet (tennis court). The man from Jhajjar in Haryana next runs into seventh seed Stephano Naoplitano from Italy. The Italian is a tough cookie and loves playing on hard courts, having idolised Roger Federer.
On court, on Saturday, a lot will depend on how much recovery Sumit has made after a late-night match, lasting over two hours. He has a support team but then to step on court and churn out the groundstrokes will be important.
“Great, great fight for me. It was a really tight first set, but I felt like the longer I played the match it went better. But hats off to Adam for playing such a high- level match. You know, the tougher it gets going, it’s all about small margins in a tennis match. I felt like I played those margins very well today. I went for my shots and I was the one who was dictating the points,” said Nagal after the match.
On the semi-final, said Sumit: “I’m playing Stefano. I have played with him years ago, but he’s playing good tennis and I’m looking forward for the match.”
For all those who think Sumit Nagal is in good space, he has to keep fighting in Bengaluru and the next two weeks as well in Pune and New Delhi, venue for the next two Challengers.
As per the dynamic ATP singles rankings, Sumit could drop a few points even in the next week and be again around 102. A lot will depend on the crunch match today, and if he wins that, the final on Sunday.
Travelling to Pune and New Delhi will also test Sumit Nagal, but he has a decent team to take care of him now. There is a big difference between playing abroad and at home.
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