Sumit Nagal

Sumit Nagal (born 16 August 1997) is an Indian professional tennis player. He won the 2015 Wimbledon boys' doubles title with his Vietnamese partner Lý Hoàng Nam, thus becoming the sixth Indian player to win a junior Grand Slam title. He is currently the highest-ranked Indian singles tennis player^[1] and since 2018, he has been a regular member of India's national Davis Cup squad.

Sumit Nagal

Nagal at the 2022 French Open
Country (sports)	India
Residence	New Delhi, India
Born	(1997-08-16) 16 August 1997 (age 26) Jaitpur, Haryana, India
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Turned pro	2015
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Coach	Sascha Nensel
Prize money	US$ 704,295
Singles
Career record	8–19 (29.6% in ATP World Tour and Grand Slam main draw matches, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 122 (24 August 2020)
Current ranking	No. 141 (13 November 2023)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	1R (2021)
French Open	Q2 (2021)
Wimbledon	Q1 (2018)
US Open	2R (2020)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games	2R (2021)
Doubles
Career record	0–1 (0% in ATP World Tour and Grand Slam main draw matches, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 540 (8 October 2018)
Current ranking	No. 581 (26 June 2023)
Team competitions
Davis Cup	2–3
Medal record Representing  India Men's tennis Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games 2017 Ashgabat Men's singles
Last updated on: 13 September 2023.

Early life

Sumit Nagal was born on 16 August 1997 to school teacher Suresh Nagal and his wife Krishna Devi, a homemaker in Jhajjar, Haryana. Nagal started playing tennis at the age of eight at a local sports club. When he was ten years old, he was selected to join Mahesh Bhupathi's training academy, as part of the first batch of Mahesh Bhupathi's Apollo Tyres Mission 2018 programme.^[2] As part of the programme, between 2008 and 2010, Nagal was based in Bangalore. Upon the programme closing down, Nagal shifted to Toronto for training with Coach Bobby Mahal.

Career

2015: Junior Wimbledon Title

Nagal won his 1st ever ITF Futures title by defeating Gustavo Vellbach 6–2, 6–0 at India F8 tournament. Nagal then won India F11 by defeating compatriot Ronit Singh Bisht 6–3, 6–4. Nagal won the 2015 Wimbledon boys' doubles title with his Vietnamese partner Lý Hoàng Nam, defeating Reilly Opelka and Akira Santillan in the final. He became the sixth Indian player to win a junior Grand Slam title.^[3] Nagal won his 1st ever ITF futures doubles title with Vijay Sundar Prashanth by defeating compatriots Anirudh Chandrasekar and Vignesh Peranamallur 6–3, 7–5, he also won the singles in the same tournament by defeating Vishnu Vardhan 7–6(7-5), 7–6(7-4).

2016: Davis Cup debut

Nagal won Uzbekistan F1 with Ti Chen by defeating Sanjar Fayziev and Jurabek Karimov 5–5 ret. He won Poland F6 by defeating Daniel Masur 6–4, 1–6, 6–3. Nagal made his Davis Cup debut for India in the 2016 World Group Playoff tie against Spain in New Delhi.^[4] He then won Hungary F7 by defeating Peter Nagy 7–6(7–3), 6–1.

2017: First ATP Challenger title

Nagal ran into a controversy when he was dropped from Davis Cup team for serious disciplinary issues.^[5]

Nagal lost the final of Romania F2 to Gonçalo Oliveira 6–3, 3–6, 0–6. He then won Sri Lanka F1 by defeating Alexander Zhurbin 6–3, 6-2 and Sri Lanka F3 by defeating Carlos Bolunda-Purkiss 6–1, 6–1. He continued his good form by winning Italy F23 against Andrea Basso 6–4, 6–4. Nagal then defeated Colin Van Beem by 6–3, 6–0 in the final of India F7.

Nagal won gold medal at Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games by defeating compatriot Vijay Natrajan 6–1,6-1 in the final. He didn't drop a single set in the whole championship.^[6]

At Bengaluru Challenger Nagal stunned top seed Blaž Kavčič in the quarterfinals, then followed it by beating compatriot Yuki Bhambri in the semifinal and Jay Clarke in the Finals capturing his first challenger title.^[7]

2018: Asian Games debut and struggle with form

Nagal started the year at the Maharashtra Open where qualified for the main draw after beating compatriot Divij Sharan and Adrián Menéndez Maceiras but in the 1st round(of main draw) he lost to Ilya Ivashka 3–6, 3–6. He lost his Davis Cup tie match to Zhang Ze 6–4, 6–1. Nagal made his Asian Games debut in 2018 edition, He competed in doubles event pairing with Ramkumar Ramanathan, They reached the Quarter-finals before losing to eventual silver medallists Alexander Bublik and Denis Yevseyev. Nagal failed to win a single match in the qualifying rounds of any Grand Slam events, he missed US Open due to an injury. He lost to compatriot Ramkumar Ramanathan in the 1st round of 2018 Shenzhen Longhua Open after qualifying from qualifying draw. He then lost to Saketh Myneni in the Quarter-finals of 2018 Bengaluru Open 6–4, 6–4. Nagal failed to reach final of any ITF or Challenger tournament at the end if the year.

2019: Debut at Grand Slam main draw

2019 proved to be breakthrough year for Nagal. At the 2019 US Open, Nagal qualified to make his grand slam main draw debut. He faced Roger Federer in his opening round match.^[8] He lost the match but managed to take first set against the multiple grand slam champion.^[9] Later he reached his second career ATP challenger final at the Banja Luka Challenger. He lost the championship match to Dutch player Tallon Griekspoor.^[10] The next tournament he reached the final again at Buenos Aires Challenger.^[11] He won the title defeating local player Facundo Bagnis. This was his second challenger title and his first on clay.^[12]

2020: First Grand Slam main draw win

At 2020 US Open, Nagal won his opening round match against Bradley Klahn, thus becoming first Indian since Somdev Devvarman at the 2013 US Open to win a singles match in the main draw of a Grand Slam. In second round he was defeated in straight sets by the second seed and eventual champion, Dominic Thiem.^[13]

2021: Olympic debut

Nagal started the year at the 2021 Australian Open where he received a wildcard entry into the main draw. He was defeated in straight sets to Ričardas Berankis 6–2, 7–5, 6–3. Nagal then qualified for main draw of Barcelona Open after beating Illya Marchenko and Thomas Fabbiano. But he was defeated in straight sets to Pierre-Hugues Herbert in 1st round of main draw. He lost to Norbert Gombos in the qualifiers of BMW Open. He was seeded no.8 at the Prague Open, he defeated Zdeněk Kolář and Sergiy Stakhovsky but again lost to Norbert Gombos who was the top seed.

Nagal qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in singles.^[14] He reached the 2nd round after defeating Denis Istomin.^[15][16] He lost to Daniil Medvedev in the next round.^[17] Nagal holds the distinction of being the first Indian in 25 years to reach the second round of an Olympics singles tennis event.^[18] At 2021 US Open, Nagal was out in the qualifying round. Nagal had an early end to 2021 season due to a hip injury for which he underwent a surgery in November.^[19] But before he was injured he lastly played at Sibiu Challenger where he made it to the semi-finals before losing to top seed and eventual champion Stefano Travaglia.

2022: Struggles with Injuries and form

Nagal reached the only quarterfinal of his year in the Meerbusch. Outside of that, he only won 4 matches at Challenger level.

2023: First two challenger titles in 4 years, return to top 150, first win over a top 100 player

Nagal began the season at Maharastra Open entering the main draw as wildcard. He lost to sixth seed Filip Krajinović in three sets in first round. He next lost to Shintaro Mochizuki in three sets in first qualifying round of the Nonthaburi Challenger. He then lost to Gauthier Onclin in three sets in first qualifying round of the 2023 BW Open ending the first month of the year winless.

In February, Nagal reached his first challenger semifinal since Sibiu 2021 in Chennai after coming through qualifying, beating Calum Puttergill and Nam Ji-sung. In the main draw, he beat 4th seed Ryan Peniston, lucky loser Jason Jung, and unseeded Jay Clarke, before losing to Nicolas Moreno de Alboran in the semifinals.

Nagal qualified for the Garden Open in Rome. Once he reached the main draw, he beat 4th seed Francesco Maestrelli, wildcard Fausto Tabacco, alternate Max Houkes and 8th seed Joris de Loore to reach his first Challenger final in 4 years. There, he beat Jesper de Jong in straight sets to win the title, becoming the first Indian player to win a Challenger title on European clay. As a result, he reentered the top 260 on 8 May 2023.

In July, Nagal was seeded 7th in the Tampere Challenger in Finland. There, he beat Jiří Veselý, João Lucas Reis da Silva and Aziz Dougaz to reach the semifinals, where he beat Daniel Rincón to reach the second Challenger final of his year. There, he beat 4th seed Dalibor Svrčina to win his second Challenger title of the year, becoming the first Indian player to win two titles on European Clay in the same year. As a result, his ranking returned to the top 200 at 173 after the tournament.

His success continued on clay, after reaching yet another semifinal in Tulln, defeating Albert Ramos-Viñolas for his first victory over a top 100 player on his way. In the semifinals, he defeated Flavio Cobolli to reach the third final of his year. He lost to Vít Kopřiva in straight sets.

As an alternate in Helsinki, Nagal reached another challenger quarterfinal, his first on hard courts of the year, after beating Dennis Novak and Jakub Menšík. He advanced to the semifinals after second seed Emil Ruusuvuori retired midway through their match. In the semifinals, he defeated lucky loser Stefano Travaglia to reach his fourth challenger final of the year. He lost in the final in 3 sets to Corentin Moutet.As a result, his ranking returned to the top 150 at 141 after the tournament.

Career statistics

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

Key

W

F

SF

QF

#R

RR

Q#

DNQ

A

NH

(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Current through the 2021 US Open.

Tournament	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	SR	W–L	Win %
Australian Open	Q1	A	Q1	1R	A	0 / 1	0–1	0%
French Open	Q1	A	Q1	Q2	A	0 / 0	0–0	–
Wimbledon	Q1	A	NH	A	A	0 / 0	0–0	–
US Open	A	1R	2R	Q1	Q1	0 / 2	1–2	33%
Win–loss	0–0	0–1	1–1	0–1	0–0	0 / 3	1–3	25%

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 17 (13–4)

Legend ATP Challenger (4–2) ITF Futures (9–1)

Finals by surface Hard (3–0) Clay (10–3) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Jun 2015	India F8, Hyderabad	Futures	Clay	Gustavo Vellbach	6–2, 6–0
Win	2–0	Aug 2015	India F11, Chennai	Futures	Hard	Ronit Singh Bisht	6–3, 6–4
Win	3–0	Sep 2015	India F15, Madurai	Futures	Hard	Vishnu Vardhan	7–6^(7–5), 7–6^(7–4)
Win	4–0	Aug 2016	Poland F6, Poznań	Futures	Clay	Daniel Masur	6–4, 1–6, 6–3
Win	5–0	Oct 2016	Hungary F7, Balatonboglar	Futures	Clay	Peter Nagy	7–6^(7–3), 6–1
Loss	5–1	May 2017	Romania F2, Bacău	Futures	Clay	Gonçalo Oliveira	6–3, 3–6, 0–6
Win	6–1	Jun 2017	Sri Lanka F1, Colombo	Futures	Clay	Alexander Zhurbin	6–3, 6-2
Win	7–1	Jul 2017	Sri Lanka F3, Colombo	Futures	Clay	Carlos Bolunda-Purkiss	6–1, 6-1
Win	8–1	Jul 2017	Italy F23, Pontedera	Futures	Clay	Andrea Basso	6–4, 6-4
Win	9–1	Sep 2017	India F7, Chennai	Futures	Clay	Colin Van Beem	6–3, 6-0
Win	10–1	Nov 2017	Bangalore, India	Challenger	Hard	Jay Clarke	6–3, 3–6, 6–2
Loss	10–2	Sep 2019	Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina	Challenger	Clay	Tallon Griekspoor	2–6, 3–6
Win	11–2	Sep 2019	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Challenger	Clay	Facundo Bagnis	6–4, 6–2
Win	12–2	Apr 2023	Rome, Italy	Challenger	Clay	Jesper de Jong	6–3, 6–2
Win	13–2	Jul 2023	Tampere, Finland	Challenger	Clay	Dalibor Svrčina	6–4, 7–5
Loss	13–3	Sep 2023	Tulln an der Donau, Austria	Challenger	Clay	Vít Kopřiva	2–6, 4–6
Loss	13–4	Nov 2023	Helsinki, Finland	Challenger	Hard (i)	Corentin Moutet	3–6, 6–3, 2–6

Doubles: 2 (2–0)

Legend ATP Challenger (0–0) ITF Futures (2–0)

Finals by surface Hard (2–0) Clay (0–0) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Sep 2015	India F15, Madurai	Futures	Hard	N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth	Anirudh Chandrasekar   Vignesh Peranamallur	6–3, 7–5
Win	2–0	Apr 2016	Uzbekistan F1, Karshi	Futures	Hard	Ti Chen	Sanjar Fayziev   Jurabek Karimov	5–5 ret.

Junior Grand Slam tournament finals

Boys' Doubles: 1 (1–0)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	2015	Wimbledon	Grass	Lý Hoàng Nam	Reilly Opelka   Akira Santillan	7–6^(7–4), 6–4

Controversies

In 2017, after reports came to surface that Sumit had missed a practice session in July 2016 at Chandigarh during the tie against South Korea, citing elbow injury. He was dropped from the Indian Davis Cup squad led by Anand Amritraj which was scheduled to face the New Zealand between 3 and 5 February 2017. A source close to All India Tennis Association (AITA) told Sportskeeda, "It is a case of sheer indiscipline, on the part of the player. He missed several training sessions, brought his girlfriend to the camp without informing us. Several other discrepancies have also emerged, which led to the captain taking this call."^[20][21][22] Nagal denied the allegations, he got support from former India player Somdev Devvarman who stated that "I want to be clear once again. You have not chosen Sumit Nagal for the upcoming tie, because Sumit Nagal is NOT available to play. How do I know this? Because I have spent 2 weeks with Sumit in December helping him with his training and his rehab for the current shoulder injury he is recovering from."^[23]

References

1. "Rankings | Singles".
2. "Who is Sumit Nagal? The Indian tennis player who will face Roger Federer at US Open 2019 first round". from the original on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
3. "Sumit Nagal wins Wimbledon boys' doubles title". 12 July 2015. from the original on 14 July 2015. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
4. "Who is Sumit Nagal, the 22-year-old from Haryana Who Just Won a Set Against Roger Federer at US Open". 27 August 2019. from the original on 14 September 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
5. "Sumit Nagal 'finished mini-bar in his hotel room', dropped from India Davis Cup team". PTI. 17 January 2017. from the original on 17 September 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
6. "Nagal wins gold with crushing win over Prashanth". Retrieved 27 September 2017.
7. "Sumit Nagal wins ATP Bengaluru Open title". PTI. 25 November 2017. from the original on 23 July 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
8. Meiseles, Josh. "Who Is Sumit Nagal? Meet Federer's First Round Opponent". www.atptour.com. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
9. Hegde, Prajwal (28 August 2019). "Valiant Sumit Nagal gives Roger Federer a scare before going down at US open". from the original on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
10. Chakraborty, Samrat (15 September 2019). "Sumit Nagal Loses To Netherlands' Tallon Griekspoor In Final Of Banja Luka Challenger". from the original on 22 September 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
11. Damayanti Dasgupta (3 March 2021). "Sumit Nagal on fire in Argentina". The Times of India. from the original on 26 April 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
12. "Sumit Nagal wins Buenos Aires Challenger, likely to break into top 135 of ATP rankings". 30 September 2019. from the original on 1 October 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
13. "Dominic Thiem ousts Sumit Nagal to advance into Round 3". 3 September 2020. from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
14. PTI (16 July 2021). "Sumit Nagal makes singles cut for Tokyo Olympics; AITA pairs him with Bopanna, withdraws Sharan". Hindustan Times. from the original on 16 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
15. "Tokyo Olympics: Sumit Nagal beats Denis Istomin to win singles Tennis match for India after 25 years". SportsTiger. from the original on 24 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
16. Sumit Nagal wins India's first Olympic singles match in 25 years 24 July 2021 at the Wayback Machine Indianexpress.com. Retrieved 24 July 2021
17. Hegde, Prajwal (27 July 2021). "Tokyo Olympics: Daniil Medvedev handed Sumit Nagal a tennis lesson". The Times of India. from the original on 26 September 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
18. N.Sudarshan. "Tennis at Tokyo 2020: Indian challenge all but over with Nagal's loss". Sportstar. from the original on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
19. "Sumit Nagal undergoes hip surgery in Germany". Retrieved 12 November 2021.
20. "India drops Sumit Nagal from Davis Cup squad citing indiscipline". 17 January 2017. from the original on 18 January 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
21. "Sumit Nagal dropped from India's Davis Cup squad due to serious breach of discipline: AITA sources". Firstpost. 17 January 2017. from the original on 18 January 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
22. "Sumit Nagal dropped from Indian Davis Cup team on charges of serious discipline breach". News Nation. 17 January 2017. from the original on 18 January 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
23. Nickels, Jepher Christopher (18 January 2017). "Sumit Nagal slams allegations made by All India Tennis Association". from the original on 20 May 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2018.

External links

• Sumit Nagal at the Association of Tennis Professionals  
• Sumit Nagal at the International Tennis Federation  
• Sumit Nagal at the Davis Cup