Sometime ago Vijay Amritraj emphasized the need to have at least two Indian players in the top 100 if India are to make significant progress in the Davis Cup. At the moment India have one in Prajnesh Gunneswaran and on his recent showing Sumit Nagal could well be the next Indian player making the grade.
It isn’t an easy task coming through three hard fought qualifying rounds to make the main draw of a Grand Slam event and then coming up against Roger Federer in the first round. The thought itself of having to face arguably the greatest player of all time in your first big match is enough to affect you mentally. But Sumit is obviously made of sterner stuff. Not at all overawed by the record and reputation of the opponent across the net he showed no signs of nerves and played freely and helped by Federer being a bit rusty he took the first set 6-4.
Suddenly Sumit became the cynosure and the spectators expecting a romp for the No 3 seed and 20 times Grand Slam champion sat up and took greater notice of the unknown 22-year-old Indian ranked No 190. There was no fairy tale ending however and Federer won the next three sets fairly comfortably but Sumit had served enough notice that he could be the next big thing in Indian tennis.
To put things in the proper perspective with Indians hardly making an impact around the ATP Tour let alone the majors Sumit was only the fifth Indian player after Somdev Devvarman, Yuki Bhambri, Saketh Myneni and Gunneswaran to feature in a Grand Slam singles main draw this decade.
Federer himself was fairly generous in his praise for Sumit for whom he predicted a “very solid career’’. Asked what he thought was the standout feature of Sumit’s game Federer said “I guess maybe how he handled the moment’’ adding that even though it is what you live for, what you dream about, playing on the big stage and he did that very well.
Sumit became only the fourth Indian to win a set in the main draw of a Grand Slam event in the last 20 years. He came out swinging and impressed with his court coverage and heavily spun shots over the net in the course of his dream start before his legs started to look more wobbly allowing Federer to take control.
Sumit was ranked 361 at the start of the year after being sidelined by a shoulder problem but since then he has made remarkable progress. India’s Davis Cup captain Mahesh Bhupathi showered praise on Sumit. “He showed incredible composure against the greatest player in the world. I think he should be very proud of the improvement he has made this year.’’
Sumit in fact had an outstanding career as a junior player and won the 2015 Wimbledon boys doubles title along with his Vietnamese partner becoming the sixth Indian player to win a junior Grand Slam title. Clearly here is a lad from whom bigger things can be expected.