FEAT OF CLAY: Sumit Nagal back in the zone

Nagal defeated Jesper De Jong of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-2 in the final of the Euro 73,000 clay court event for his third Challenger title.

FEAT OF CLAY: Sumit Nagal back in the zone

Sumit Nagal (Image Credit: User Generated Content)

If Amitabh Bachchan was the angry young man of Bollywood, Sumit Nagal was the impatient tyro in Indian tennis. From the rustic background of Jhajjar, Haryana to adopting Germany as his second home, the 25-year-old has come a long way. Yet, bridging the gap between potential and performance was not easy for the young man who has faced plenty of hardships in his life.

It’s a tribute to his perseverance, poise, and pluck, Nagal came good, of all the surfaces, on clay. He won the ATP Challenger in Rome, on clay this Sunday. To be sure, Nagal winning on clay was crazy. This dude has grown up on hard courts where groundstrokes were his bread-and-butter shots. Tennis on clay calls for patience and being ready to rally, or so one thought .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNgK8Z9_Vuw&pp=ygULU3VtaXQgTmFnYWw%3D

That change, in mindset and temperament, saw Nagal win a title that could alter the course of his career. For Indians to make an impact in singles at the age of 25 is not too late. The boy has always worked hard on fitness and speed, yet the way injuries messed up his last few years was sad. For the record, he defeated Jesper De Jong of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-2 in the final of the Euro 73,000 clay court event for his third Challenger title.

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“I was calm and relaxed and at the same time happy with my body,” said Nagal. The boy is critical of himself. Clay is maybe not his pet surface. “Winning a Challenger is a big thing when you have not done well recently,” he said. Indians have not been good on clay court, though touch artists Ramesh Krishnan and Leander Paes won titles on this slow surface.

“I was the first to win in South America and now the first Indian to win in Europe,” added Nagal, as he rose to an ATP ranking of 254. The year 2022 was bad, as he underwent a hip surgery. Post-recovery and rehab, he had to start from scratch. He did play in the Pune ATP event and got injured. He has now got used to playing qualies and then making the cut for the main draw. However, what he faced during the Covid period was bizarre in Germany.

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Adversity has been a love affair for Sumit Nagal

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(Image Credit: User Generated Content)

He had no earnings, there were no tournaments and travel. In the peak of 2021, he told this writer how he had to dip into his savings and survive in Germany. That was the hardest phase in his life. He could not come to India, either. For Nagal, adversity has been a love affair.

He has been misunderstood often, even in Davis Cup campaigns, when the team management has played dirty with him. Nagal did have a short fuse but has now matured. That is good in the sense he can play with more assurance now.

Just to jog the readers’ memory, in 2019, Nagal took a set off King Roger Federer at the US Open first round. He had a bazooka forehand and for those looking at an Indian kid on the block was wow. Federer also did compliment the young Indian.

“I think he (Nagal) knows what he can bring. That’s why I think he’s going to have a very solid career. But, of course it’s not the game that comes out with the biggest surprises. It’s really consistent. I think he did it very well,” Federer said after the match in New York.

The bigger quote from Federer in 2019 was. “I think his game is based on being really consistent, moving well, moving the ball around well. Sort of very much a clay-courter. That’s also the surface. He’s basically played the entire year almost.”

However, the Covid plus injuries made it hard for Nagal. He has attained a state of nirvana now. Perhaps, he realizes, putting too much pressure on himself is not easy. The grind back to getting into ATP Tour events and Grand Slams will not be easy. There is only one way, keep hitting and hope to get better. Mentally, he is more calm, a state of nirvana.

Having seen hardships in his career, starved of funds, it was the Virat Kohli Foundation that backed him first five years ago. The talent in Nagal was first spotted by Mahesh Bhupathi. That Nagal had breaks in between was sad. For the record, he was also lucky to play in singles at the Tokyo Olympics, as Yuki Bhambri could not go.

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