Exclusive: 'That's one of my goals', Sumit Nagal hopes to break into top 100 in ATP rankings

Sumit Nagal, India’s highest-ranked singles player in tennis, is hoping to break into the top 100 of the ATP rankings in the near future, but for that to happen, he said that he will need to remain healthy and be in a good mental state. Nagal, 26, is currently ranked 161 in the ATP rankings, and although a top-100 seems like there’s work to be done, he is not giving up just yet. In fact, he said that he wants to break his compatriot Somdev Devvarman’s ranking of 62 one day. “Of course, that’s (Surpassing Somdev’s ranking) one of my goals”, Sumit said during the Mic’d Up segment of the First Sports show hosted by Rupha Ramani.

Last week, Nagal had revealed that despite being a professional tennis player, he wasn’t living a great life financially. He revealed that he only had 900 euros in the bank. However, following his revelation, Nagal received support from the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA) and PepsiCo India. Nagal said that it was  important to be free from injuries if he wanted to break into the top 100. “If I am playing the way I am playing, I should be in a good position to be knocking at the top 100 spot. For that, I have to stay injury-free, I have to play the way I am playing. I made a few changes to my game a few weeks back, telling myself, “Be okay with mistakes, do not be scared of losing”. I was playing a few matches, being scared and telling myself, " I need to do this. I cannot lose this match”. What was happening was, when the matches are getting close, I would make mistakes, because I was telling myself not to do it and I would end up doing that. If I can focus on staying healthy, playing the right way, just competing, being in a good mental state, I think I should be okay to be in top 100,” he added. Nagal was recently seen in action on Wednesday, when he took part in the men’s singles category of the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou. Despite taking the first set against China’s Zhizhen Zhang, Nagal went onto lose the match with a 7-6(3), 1-6, 2-6 scoreline.