India’s ATP No. 1 Sumit Nagal is down to mere 900 Euros as he criticizes the authorities for lack of support towards him

Sumit Nagal explains his financial struggles.

India’s ATP No. 1 Sumit Nagal is down to mere 900 Euros as he criticizes the authorities for lack of support towards him

Sumit Nagal(Image via Telegraph India)

India’s No.1 ranked tennis player Sumit Nagal has opened criticism against authorities for not receiving proper support for his tennis career. The Indian is currently ranked 156 in the World. However, he is the only player from India capable of qualifying for the Olympic games.

The Indian made his Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2021 games where he won the first round against Denis Istomin. However, he lost in the second round against Russian Daniil Medvedev. However, the Indian had an unfortunate end to his 2021 season, when he had to get under the knife due to a hip injury. He had also contracted COVID-19 twice in the last year. This led to him losing his ranking. The Indian has reached a career-high ranking of World No.122 in 2020.

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However, the Indian has revealed that he receives close to no support from any authorities. The Indian receives a monthly salary from IOCL and a little support from the Maha Tennis Foundation. However, apart from this, Nagal has no financial support of any kind from any organization. This led to out-of-pocket expenses for a travelling coach which cost most of his money. In an interview with PTI, he said, “I feel like I am lacking support despite being India’s number one player for past few years.”

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He also said that despite being the only India able to qualify for the Grand Slams, his name has still not been added to the Target Olympic Podium Scheme by the Sports Authority of India. Nagal also reflected on the fact that with the largest population in the world, India was still not able to produce too many Olympic medalists. He said that India lacks a system to get funding for emerging athletes.

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Sumit Nagal explains that he does not have much stashed in savings

While explaining his financial struggles, Nagal said, “I don’t have anything in savings. I am just breaking even.” He revealed that he was not living a very good life with a mere 900 Euros in his bank balance.

Sumit Nagal
Sumit Nagal (Via IMAGO)

However, the Indian expressed his gratitude for being able to break even. He said that he did not earn much in the last year and the fact that he could break even. He revealed that not being forced to leave the academy was a blessing in disguise. “At least I am not in minus where I have to leave the academy and travel on my own, ” he said.

He also said that his coach Sasha Nansel convinced him to save as much as possible and continue with his academy training at Germany. He revealed that he only travelled with a single coach and that was the bare minimum. However, he was not able to afford even that bare minimum.

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