How unflinching Sumit Nagal hooked the Indian tennis fan Premium

Sumit Nagal's rise in Indian men's singles tennis, overcoming challenges to break into the ATP top-100 with impressive performances.

In November 2023, a short 23-second clip of Sumit Nagal’s successful match-point against Italian Stefano Travaglia in the semifinals of the Helsinki ATP Challenger was having an unusually long shelf life on X (formerly Twitter). Instead of being sucked into the social media vortex, it was widely shared, for Nagal was on the cusp of breaking into the coveted ATP top-100.

Underneath the post, though, was an innocuous comment that read: “Greatest Indian male singles player of all time? Who is close to him in the past?” To the average Indian sports fan, the question would have been borderline blasphemous, for the country has produced stalwarts such as Ramanathan Krishnan, Vijay Amritraj and Ramesh Krishnan, to name a few.

Seen differently, the ignorance could have also been indicative of a deeper malaise that has afflicted Indian men’s singles tennis. If one has to time-travel more than three decades to find the last great, how do you expect spectators to be engaged and knowledgeable?

Over the last four months however, Nagal has taken small, but encouraging, steps towards erasing this story of extreme apathy, being more than just an object of curiosity and providing that emotional hook for many an Indian tennis fan. 

The 26-year-old has broken into the top-100 for the first time, beaten two top-40 players, including the then World No. 27 Alexander Bublik in the first round of the Australian Open, and has qualified for two ATP Masters in Indian Wells (lucky loser) and Monte Carlo.

The win over Bublik was the first by an Indian over a seeded player at a Slam since Ramesh Krishnan beat World No. 1 Mats Wilander at the 1989 Australian Open. Nagal even won a round in Monte Carlo, overcoming World No. 38 Matteo Arnaldi in three sets — which is set to carry him into the top-80, a new career-high — before losing a tough three-setter to World No. 7 Holger Rune.

To be fair, Nagal’s exploits are not a patch on what is considered top-draw in global tennis parlance. What has excited Indian fans however is his rise from the sporting abyss over the last year and a half — he began 2023 ranked 502 in the world — and his new-found consistency.