'It's been emotional': Sumit Nagal from struggling to enter tournaments to historic Australian Open win

The clock in Melbourne was nearing 6 PM. Large parts of Court 6 was covered in sun and the towering stands engulfed the remaining portion to throw some shade on. Alexander Bublik, the number 31 seed at the Australian Open, had some minutes ago denied Sumit Nagal of India an opportunity to close the match out. Serving for the match, Nagal netted a backhand volley and the match remained alive. Fast forward to the tiebreak that followed, Bublik served a double fault and Sumit Nagal had three match points. On the first chance, Nagal made a forehand unforced error. And another on the second match point. On the third, Bublik stepped up and rather anticlimatically served another double fault. Sumit Nagal had just entered the second round of the Australian Open with a 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 win over Alexander Bublik who has three ATP titles (2022 Montpellier, 2023 Antwerp and 2023 Halle) to his name. In the process, he became the first Indian men’s singles player to defeat a seeded opponent at a major since 1989. The last Indian to achieve this feat 34 years ago was Ramesh Krishnan who had beaten top-ranked Mats Wilander at the Australian Open.

That's a big win for @nagalsumit 🇮🇳

He takes out No. 31 seed Bublik 6-4 6-2 7-6(5).#AusOpen • #AO2024 pic.twitter.com/ldM9VE4X0M

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 16, 2024

The relief on Nagal’s face was evident. He thrust out his hands in joy, looked skywards and nudged forward to the net. Upon the customary handshake with Bublik and the chair umpire, he walked to his seat and raised his arm while forming a fist to take in the roaring ovation. He yelled out ‘C’mon’ in delight. Nagal’s story is one of challenges in the last couple of years. He suffered a hip injury and went under the knife. When he came back, doubts lingered each time he lunged for balls. It didn’t help that he had coronavirus related illness to keep him down. Struggling to enter ATP Challenger events last year, he admitted to having just 900 Euros in his bank account at the end of the 2023 season. “Obviously, I’m not crying right now,” he said after pocketing AUD$120,000 in prize money for making the second round. “But of course, at the same time it hasn’t completely sunk in yet.” “You know, these moments you will go through as an athlete. Sometimes you’ll have a good year, sometimes you’ll have a bad year.” “Last year was probably one of the best years in a term where, like I said, you know, 900 Euros, not getting into tournaments for first few months, relying on wild cards in February to finishing 130 again. It’s not an incredible, or like, you know, record broken thing.” “From where I started, I was pretty proud of myself to be able to give myself another chance to be here, to qualify, to like I said, play second round on Thursday. It’s a good feeling.”

The first Indian man in 3️⃣5️⃣ years to beat a seed at a Grand Slam 🇮🇳@nagalsumit • #AusOpen • #AO2024 • @Kia_Worldwide • #Kia • #MakeYourMove pic.twitter.com/SY55Ip4JaG

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 16, 2024

Apathy of those that run the sport in the country landed a petty blow when Nagal’s name wasn’t sent for a regional wild card opportunity due to his refusal to play the Davis Cup against Pakistan in February. As a result, Nagal came through three rounds of qualifying and on Tuesday registered just his second win in a Grand Slam. He had reached the Round of 64 at the 2020 US Open as well where he lost to eventual champion Dominic Thiem. “Emotional. Tired at the same time,” said Nagal when asked to sum up his feelings. “It’s been strong I would say the past few months where a lot of things has happened in tennis. Starting the year not getting into Challenger qualies (qualifying), to playing second out of a slam on Thursday. Like I said, it’s been emotional.” “I’ve worked very hard with my team, and I’m very proud of myself to be able to handle the things that I’m going through and be able to perform the way I want to perform.”

2 - Sumit Nagal is the 2nd Indian to defeat a seeded player at the #AO after Ramesh Krishnan in 1989 in the Open Era and the 3rd Indian since 2000 to win a match at the AO after Leander Paes and Somdev Devvarman. Stunning. #AusOpen | @AustralianOpen @TennisAustralia pic.twitter.com/TNB0tZmTzY

— OptaAce (@OptaAce) January 16, 2024

Nagal set the tone early in the match by breaking the 6-foot-5 from Kazakhstan. Despite being broken right back, the 137th ranked Indian maintained the fight to take the opening set. Russia-born Bublik struggled throughout the match with his serve. By landing just 53 per cent of his usual big serves, he was forced to rely on the second serve. It opened the door for Nagal to get returns back and he pocketed 57 per cent of the points on the second serve. Bublik, visibly exasperated many times in the third set, made nine double faults and 44 unforced errors (to Nagal’s 26) throughout the match to make things easier for the reliable and rally-friendly Nagal. The 26-year-old will next play China’s Juncheng Shang, world no 140. If he happens to win the second round, there is potential third round clash with World No 2 Carlos Alcaraz. Nagal, though, is not keen on looking that far ahead. The injuries, the financial instability and difficulties in getting into tournaments has given him a perspective to focus on the ’now.’ “Enjoying the moment because you have to kind of enjoy this. It doesn’t stay forever. You never know in tennis what happens next where you can go to a tournament and not even be able to put two balls in, and thank you very much. The tournament gets over,” he added. For now, Nagal is still in it. On to Thursday it is for him and plethora of Indians in Melbourne.