"It’s an emotional high": India's Sumit Nagal

From considering quitting tennis over 15 years ago at the age of 12 due to an interruption in his training programme to qualifying for backtoback Olympics in menrsquos singles Sumit Nagal turning 27 next month has come a long wayEn route he has had quite a few noteworthy achievements like taking the opening set off the legendary Roger Federer at the 2019 US Open Nagal also won his firstround matches at the Tokyo 2020 Games and the Australian Open earlier this year At the yearrsquos first Grand Slam Nagal stunned then World No 31 Alexander Bublikmdasha player then ranked nearly 100 places above himmdashin straight sets 64 62 76 Nagal had also bagged the Wimbledon boys doubles title back in 2015Love for street cricketHailing from a middle class family in Jhajjar Haryana like most Indian kids Nagal also wanted to be a cricketer However his father insisted for him to play an individual sport and after a discussion with a family friend tennis was chosen ldquoI played a lot of street cricket in my childhood There was a lot of competition and eagerness to win Tennis happened because my father felt that I had a lot of energy which was being wasted outside the schoolrdquo Nagal tells midday In 2005 Nagal was among the three players selected from a few thousand aspirants by Indiarsquos doubles legend Mahesh Bhupathi for his tennis academy And there has been no looking back sinceNagalrsquos hard work in the extremely competitive world of professional tennis has been relentless And fittingly earlier this week he attained a careerhigh ranking of 68 thus becoming the fourth highestranked Indian male after Vijay Amritraj ranked 18th in 1980 Ramesh Krishnan 23rd in 1985 and Somdev Devvarman 62nd in 2011So whatrsquos it like to journey from a ranking close to 500 less than a yearandahalf back to a careerhigh 68Also ReadNoah Lyles wins last 100m before Olympics in LondonLabour pays offldquoFrom a ranking of 500 around 16 months ago to my current ranking it has been a lot of hard work with some great tennis matches strenuous practice sessions and tough days overall There are so many ups and downs that itrsquos very tough to be positive week after week But at the end of the day Irsquom happy I could motivate myself to do all this If you see the bigger picture itrsquos a good situation to be in todayrdquo remarks Nagal The professional grind aside though wearing the tricolor on your shirt at the Olympics is a special high Nagal is only the second Indian player since former Davis Cup skipper Leander Paes to qualify in the menrsquos singles event at backtoback Olympics ldquoItrsquos a very proud feeling to be the only menrsquos singles player to represent India at the Paris Olympics Itrsquos an emotional high Itrsquos great to have so much support and hope riding on my shoulders which not too many people could have lived through So I respect it and Irsquom very much looking forward to Parisrdquo he addsQualifying for Paris wasnrsquot easy however ldquoI knew that if I win my last Challenger Heilbronn Challenger Germany in June Irsquoll get an entry to the Paris Olympics but there was also the fear that if I donrsquot then I would probably have to wait Itrsquos tough to control your nerves while playing at such a levelrdquo he saysFor any big event preparation is key and Nagal has his plans laid out ldquoI really enjoy playing on clay courts and to prepare for the Paris Games I will be playing three tournaments on clayrdquo he says Bhupathi and fitness trainer Milos Galecic have been Nagalrsquos biggest influences and the tennis ace is pleased to know that he will be having his trainer by his side in Paris ldquoMilos will be travelling with me during the Paris Olympics and I am very happy about this development My goal is to constantly keep improving Be it mentally or physically you have to keep improving always because if you donrsquot the other players around you are improving and then therersquos a huge difference between them and yourdquo he explainsLove for street foodThe professional strain of living out of the country for most part of the year notwithstanding Nagal misses Indian food a lot ldquoI love street food I relish golgappas paani puri jalebi and samosas I enjoy video games too and whenever Irsquom with my friends we head out to catch a movie or to a restaurantrdquohe concludes