“Everyone dreams,” Sumit Nagal discusses his comeback from waiting on wildcards to breaking into the second round at the Australian Open during his post-match presser

The Indian tennis star from Haryana opens up about his journey as he becomes the only Indian after 1989 to beat a top-seeded player in a Grand Slam.

“Everyone dreams,” Sumit Nagal discusses his comeback from waiting on wildcards to breaking into the second round at the Australian Open during his post-match presser

Sumit Nagal (image via: Imago)

Sumit Nagal, the 26-year-old from India, scripts history as the first Indian player since 1989 to beat a top-seeded player at a Grand Slam. The last to do so was Ramesh Krishnan at the Australian Open. 

Nagal was up against Alexander Bublik in the first round of the Australian Open. The boy from Haryana defeated World No. 31 in straight sets to advance to the second round of the tournament. 

In the press conference after the match, Sumit Nagal opened up about his journey from breaking into the wildcards to breaking into the second round. 

As an athlete sometimes, you'll have a good year or sometimes you'll have a bad year. Last year was probably one of the best years. From not getting into tournaments for the first few months, I was relying on wildcards in February to finishing 130 again. From where I started, I was proud to be able to give myself another chance.
Nagal said.

Nagal suffered a flurry of injuries and was ranked outside the top 500 for the majority of the year. However, after good performances, he managed to bring the rank down to 122, and through the qualifiers, he managed to land in the Australian Open. 

That's the reason I was going through, what I had to go through. Everyone dreams, you know? Everyone dreams to be a certain place and I never lost that belief.
When asked about this in the conference, the 26-year-old said

Sumit Nagal continues his run in the Australian Open

After a heroic victory in the first round, Nagal will be up against Shang Juncheng in the second round of the tournament. The 18-year-old from China beat Mackenzie McDonald in his last match in a thriller 5-set victory. 

Sumit Nagal opens up about his journey from relying on wildcard entry last year to breaking out in the second round of the Australian Open.
Sumit Nagal (image via: Wikipedia)

With that being said, there is no denying that Nagal would like to capitalize on the inexperience of Juncheng. The Indian had been in pretty good form before coming to the tournament. 

The 26-year-old didn’t lose a set in the three matches of his qualifying campaign. He beat Slovakia’s Alex Molcan in straight sets to reach the main draw of a Grand Slam for the fourth time in his career.

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