Sumit Nagal is in his breakthrough year as a professional tennis player. If one goes by how European kids peak in this racquet sport in their teens, Nagal is a late bloomer. Yet, 2024 has been most productive for the boy from Jhajjar, Haryana as he will make his dream debut at the French Open, beginning Sunday, in Paris.
It may seem intimidating, looking at the draw, Nagal has been drawn to meet Karen Khachanov in the first round at Roland Garros. But then the way Nagal has shown pluck and purpose this year, he will look to fight as hard as he can against the Russian, who is a hard-nut to crack.
One has to rewind to Nagal in 2024, a year where he has finally translated potential into results and crack the Top 100 barrier for the first time in his career. In recent days, one photo of Nagal has stormed the internet, Nagal at practice on the brick red clay with defending champion Novak Djokovic in Paris. The caption for the post on social media, X, was simple: Enjoyed practice.
That’s been the essence of Sumit Nagal in 2024, he is enjoying his tennis, broke the Top 100 barrier in singles ranking and has been pushing the bigger players hard. From the lowly Challenger rung to the ATP Tour events and now getting a place in the singles draw at the French Open and then Wimbledon, based on his current ranking, is big news. Indians have become “doubles experts” at large in tennis and singles players had become like Dinosaurs.
Well, Nagal has come along, showing that in the right mental space where he does not have to worry about his next earning and who will be in his support staff, he can try his best. That effort part has made him so special all along, which also saw the 27-year-old Indian win hearts and big matches against the top dogs in the last five months. Then again, rising from the qualifying stage at the Australian Open, then winning a main round at the season’s first Grand Slam was defining. He had to come to India and taken on the journeymen in the Challenger events, where Chennai was special and so was Bengaluru. He cracked the Top 100 and it brought cheer to Indians fans. It was an Eureka moment.
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At the French Open first round, to take on the Russian Khachanov is a hard job. RevSportz asked Sania Mirza to sum up what Sumit Nagal means to tennis fans in India. “Sumit Nagal will take on 18th seeded Khachanov in the singles main draw of the French Open and becomes the first Indian since Prajnesh (Gunneswaran) in 2019 in the main draw at Roland Garros. Clay is definitely Sumit’s favourite surface and it will be interesting to see how he fares against a Top 20 player,” said Sania Mirza.
Sania has seen Indian tennis closely and has herself produced classic performances. That apart, she is now a commentator and understands the psyche of players who are on the global tour. Nagal and effort are synonymous, he loves the big stage pressure and can lift off like a rocket. Whether he can do it on clay, a surface he loves, will be interesting to see.
Add the qualification angle and the Road To Paris scenario, Nagal knows winning ranking points at the French Open will be vital. On paper, Khachanov is strong as the Russian has big shots, mostly on hard courts. If Nagal can slide and rally, he will ‘go for broke,’ to borrow a tennis parlance.
This fortnight is big for Nagal, a man languishing in low triple digit rankings who has bounced back like a yo-yo. Can that yo-yo man swing his racquet in Paris is the big question!
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