Sumit Nagal: A Star Is Born

WHEN SUMIT NAGAL closed his eyes and raised his fists in victory below the noisy bleachers of Court 6 in Melbourne Park, there was more reason for the only Indian in the singles main draw of the ongoing Australian Open to sigh in relief than just the simple matter of progression into the second round of a Grand Slam. The win marked the first time since 1989 that an Indian playing singles had tamed a seeded player in any major. An incredible 35 years after Ramesh Krishnan de­feated World No 1 and defending champion Mats Wilander in the second round of the Australian Open, Nagal put away the enormous talent of Alexander Bublik, seeded 31, in the first Slam of the year on January 16.

But, for Nagal, this was bigger and more meaningful than just creating history; that one win guaranteed him AUD 180,000 (approximately `98 lakh), even if he did not proceed further in the tournament, which he didn’t, losing in four sets to China’s Shang Juncheng in the second round. Still, the prize money for winning the first round is more significant than just an ample addition to Nagal’s riches, for he is far from. Just last year, the 26-year-old revealed that he was nearly broke, with only `80,000 left in his bank account, despite having earned US$120,000 from the sport in 2023. Why? Because without the support of state or national associations, Nagal was alone keeping his career afloat by channelling all he made back into pro-tennis.

“The yearly cost when I travel with one coach is around `1 crore and that is without a physio. Whatever I have made, I have already invested… If I look at my bank balance, I have what I had at the beginning of the year. It is 900 euros [`80,000],” he said in a heartbreaking interview last September, just about four months ago. Already after just one match of importance in 2024, he has earned more than he had in all of 2023, ballooning his said savings (even if fleetingly, for this too will be reinvested) by well more than a hundred-fold. As pleasing as this income may be, Nagal’s overall state of affairs is most pitiful, especially given that he is the country’s top-ranked player in a global sport.

“I feel like I am lacking support despite being India’s number-one player for the past few years. I am the only player to qualify for Grand Slams, the only player to win a [tennis] match at the Olympics [Tokyo] in the last few years,” he had said. Just as bad, the All India Tennis Association (AITA), tennis’ governing body in India, could have made life a tad easier by applying for a wildcard into this Australian Open, just as they had done for him in 2021. Instead, AITA decided to punish him for refusing to participate in India’s Davis Cup tie in Pakistan next month. So, Nagal was forced to get here the long way, through the gruel of the major’s qualifying rounds.

But he is nothing if not perseverant. The son of a primary school teacher from Jhajjar, Haryana, Nagal wasn’t born to the means or family that can afford to create a professional tennis player in India. Yet, he pushed on, with plenty of hard work to shape his talent. He won the junior Wimbledon title in doubles as an 18-year-old, before making the sport his profession with a growling hunger for singles success.

In his very first appearance in the main draw of a Slam, US Open 2019, Nagal was up against the then GOAT, Roger Federer, and promptly dropped jaws around the world by winning the first set. In the following US Open, he went a step better by beating American Bradley Klahn in the first round, the first Indian to do so since Somdev Devvarman in 2013 (ending a six-year dry spell for men’s tennis in India), only to run into eventual champion Dominic Thiem in the next round.

The life of a singles professional outside the top-50 is most unforgiving, a majority of whom end up spending more than they make to simply play on the tour. Yet, Nagal, out of the top-500 for a while in the post-Covid years, strived on—through a slew of injuries, through his lack of support from the associations, through his financial mess and through the three qualifying rounds of this Australian Open, winning all in straight sets no less. Then, where it was least expected, it all paid off.

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