Sumit Nagal not nominated for Australian Open wildcard: Report

All India Tennis Association (AITA) has reportedly refused to send Sumit Nagal’s name for an Australian Open wildcard nomination. It comes in the aftermath of Nagal opting out of travelling to Pakistan for a Davis Cup tie in February next year. Nagal had received a wildcard for the 2021 Australian Open as a slot reserved for a player from the Asia-Pacific region. It put him straight into the main draw where he played Ričardas Berankis in the first round loss. For the 2024 Australian Open, AITA chose not to send his nomination to Tennis Australia despite the player moving from outside the top-500 in rankings to the current World No 138. “Anil Dhupar (AITA secretary general) had called me and said he won’t send the nomination since I said no to the Davis Cup," Nagal told Hindustan Times on Monday. “To be honest, getting this call from him and hearing him say this was a bummer. I really hope things will get better in future or else tennis is going to die even faster in India.” It comes on the back of Nagal, and Sasikumar Mukund, opting to pull out of India’s Davis Cup tie in Pakistan in February. The decision left AITA and Dhupar unhappy. “One cannot expect to pull out of a Davis Cup assignment for the country and then expect something in return from the federation. Why should we send anything from our end to nominate him? AITA had to take a stand against such things at some point,” Dhupar stated. Nagal had played for India in the Davis Cup tie against Morocco in Lucknow. The 26-year-old won both his singles rubbers as India triumphed 3-1. “My opting out for Davis Cup (tie against Pakistan) was majorly because of it being played on grass,” he said. “It is really sad to see this decision coming after looking at my performance in Lucknow and securing the win for the country. I have missed Wimbledon for the same reasons as well in the past.”

AITA’s decision-making comes despite no Indian singles player featuring in the main draw of a Grand Slam since Nagal’s appearance in 2021. At the 2020 US Open, Nagal had become the first Indian male singles player to win a main draw match since Somdev Devvarman in 2013. In the last couple of years, Nagal has been struck down by bouts of COVID-19 and hip surgery. Nagal had been in the limelight this year when he shared that he had 900 euros in his account and was struggling to stay afloat in the sport.