There is a big difference between scoring a century in cricket and cracking the 100-barrier in the rankings on the ATP computer. As Indian tennis fans celebrated the arrival of Sumit Nagal into an elite club – he was ranked 98 this Monday – it’s time to feel good.
In the world of tennis, where players begin competing in their early teens and the promising stars break into the Top 100 by 15 or 16, Nagal has been a late bloomer. Yet, what is important, as winter makes way, is that there is a spring in every step which Nagal takes on the court today.
Chennai, erstwhile Madras, has been home to the Krishnans – Ramanathan and son Ramesh – and the Amritraj brothers, Vijay and Anand, as well as Leander Paes and Somdev Devvarman. It has witnessed some great tennis, produced classy champions, and seen plenty of thrilling action as well.
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Leander and Mahesh Bhupathi may have slipped out of the collective consciousness today, but the “Indian Express” as the pair liked to address themselves, shot to stardom at the ATP Chennai event dating back to the summer of 1997. From there on, Lee and Hesh rose like phoenixes and patented a doubles style which was heady. Much later, two other Indians, Somdev and Yuki Bhambri, also scorched the hard courts in Chennai, at the same ATP event, which underwent rechristening each time a new sponsor came on board.
There is a big difference between the Chennai Open of those years and today. At that time, it was a rich event, in terms of points and prize money, where Indians needed wild cards, mostly, to get into the main singles draw. The Chennai Open now is a Challenger event, much lower down the order in the ATP’s tournament structure.
That Nagal produced some brilliance while winning it was emotional, with there being a unique Madras/Chennai connect. Somdev was coaching Nagal, and Vijay Amritraj was watching the 26-year-old whack shots with soft hands and hard drives. Vijay had run the BAT (Britannia Amritraj Trust) Academy here in the 1980s, where a champion like Paes was made. The same BAT groomed Somdev as a player, much later. Today, Vijay is president of the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association.
Vijay waxed eloquent when he saw the proceedings and insisted Indian tennis needed many more Challenger events. As for Nagal, he was indeed emotional after the win in Chennai. “I have to thank so many people for believing in me, my support team, my family and the fans,” he told RevSportz in an exclusive chat.
Words like “faith” and “self-belief” may seem clichéd in sport. No, not if you have watched Nagal play. On Sunday evening, as India’s Under-19 cricket team went down meekly to Australia in the World Cup final, Nagal stole the thunder in Chennai. His strokeplay was bold and beautiful. The SDAT Stadium in the leafy environs of Nungambakkam in Chennai was the ideal setting for Nagal to create history.
Nagal still feels his game is a “work in progress” and he will not be content with just this burst into the Top 100. Sport is non-stop, and the athlete has to keep cranking up wins. In tennis, which has a dynamic computer-based ranking system, they change at the speed of a yo-yo. When a player does well, the oscillation is harmonic. And when there is turbulence, the yo-yo goes crazy.
Nagal has stayed focused, and he craved stability. That’s why he does not want to do too many interviews. On Tuesday, at the Challenger event in Bengaluru, he coasted to a comfortable 6-2, 6-2 win to enter the second round against Geoffrey Blancaneaux.
Chennai to Bengaluru is just around six hours by road if you negotiate the traffic snarls early morning. Yet, weather wise and court condition wise, Chennai and Bengaluru are as different as cheese and chalk. The capital of Tamil Nadu is hot, and bounce is predictable on the court. Bengaluru, slightly cooler, and on a plateau, sees different tennis. The ball tends to fly, and the bounce is much more at a venue where controlling shots under the arc lights is not easy.
Nagal, who has won five Challenger titles till now, knows that he cannot celebrate this 98 ranking. He needs to go deep into the draw here in Bengaluru as well, and collect more ATP ranking points. For someone who was clutching at his serving shoulder/arm region on Saturday, the hard work he puts in at the gym, even as sweat glistens from several tattoos on his body, is proof he is a workaholic.
“Yeah, one has to keep working hard,” said Nagal. He did rewind to October 2023, when he was despondent, almost broke. That he managed to get sponsors on board has helped. “The top players have a whole team with them – coach, physio and a few more guys,” Nagal had told this writer wistfully at the Asian Games in Hangzhou.
Results plus hard work. Nagal has proved to himself and fans that he is now in a good frame of mind to perform well. These coming weeks will refine his game further and define how much better he can get. Luckily, he is not defending too many points from last season, so he should stay on course and make the cut for the Paris Olympics.
“Yes, Paris is a dream, I will slog and work hard to be ready for it,” Nagal told this writer. The last time Nagal went to the Olympics in Tokyo, three years ago, he was lucky. Bhambri had sealed that place but was injured. This time, Nagal is on a mission. As Davis Cup coach Zeeshan Ali said, “Sumit is in the form of his life.”
For Indian tennis, a singles player making waves, again, is heartening news. A boy from rustic Jhajjar in Haryana dreaming big and realising it is an against-all-odds story. Cliché? No way.