Monday was also the first time in more than two decades that India had more than one player in the main draw of a Grand Slam singles, with Prajnesh Gunneswaran losing to world number five Daniil Medvedev in an earlier match.
Tennis ace Sania Mirza has revealed the names of players she thinks will rule the tennis circuit in a few years time.
Young Sumit Nagal showed spark in his game on Davis Cup debut before 'breathing problem' scuttled his victory march as India suffered a 5-0 whitewash at the hands of mighty Spain in the World Group Play-off tie, in New Delhi on Sunday. Up against the reigning Olympic and French Open doubles champion Marc Lopez, who does not play singles anymore, the 19-year-old Nagal dominated the proceedings under muggy conditions before losing 3-6 6-1 3-6 in the dead fourth rubber, that lasted more than two hours. It was a mountainous task for Ramkumar Ramanathan to prevent a clean sweep since he had world number 13 David Ferrer as his opponent. The Spaniard cruised to a 6-2 6-2 win to complete a dominating 5-0 win for his side even as Ramkumar fought his heart out, giving his all.
Top seed Prajnesh Gunneswaran booked a singles quarter-final berth at the Jinan Open with a hard-fought win over Chinese Taipei's Tung-Lin Wu.
The Indian team had been relegated to the World Group II after losing 2-3 to Denmark in the World Group Play-Off earlier this year.
N Sriram Balaji was easily tamed by Elias Ymer, while Ramkumar Ramanathan went down to a lower-ranked Leo Borg as India were left trailing 0-2 against Sweden in the Davis Cup World Group I tie.
A look at India's schedule at the Paris Olympics on Sunday, July 28, 2024:
Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden barely broke a sweat in a straight-set victory over local hopes John Millman and Edward Winter at the Australian Open.
In a bold decision, Underdogs India have preferred Ramkumar Ramanathan over No. 1 singles player Sumit Nagal for their Davis Cup qualifier against top seeds Croatia, beginning in Zagreb on Friday.
India caused a stir in Zagreb where veteran duo Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna edged Mate Pavic and Franko Skugor in Saturday's doubles to keep alive the tie but Marin Cilic quickly doused Indian hopes with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Sumit Nagal.
AITA names five-member Indian team for Davis Cup World Group 1 play-off away tie against Denmark
Former world champion weightlifter Mirabai Chanu's proposal to train in Paris ahead of the Olympic Games was on Monday cleared by the government.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
He said rather than think about what is stopping Indian players from making an impact in Grand Slams, the focus should be on doing well in the upcoming Davis Cup tie.
India has never beaten Sweden in five attempts in the Davis Cup.
India were on Thursday drawn to meet Sweden in an away Davis Cup World Group I tie in September.
N Sriram Balaji made a strong case for his inclusion in the Indian men's doubles team for the Paris Olympics along with Rohan Bopanna by logging his maiden win at the French Open but Yuki Bhambri, the other contender for the berth, made a first round exit in Paris on Friday.
For the second consecutive Davis Cup tie, India are relying on doubles specialist N Sriram Balaji to do the singles duty
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek of Poland faces Irina-Camella Begu of Romania in the opening round of the women's draw with second-seeded American Coco Gauff taking on Australian Ajla Tomljanovic.
Double Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra is among only three track and field athletes retained in the sports ministry's revamped TOPS core group.
In singles, Sumit Nagal was placed at world No. 256 as the top-ranked Indian men's singles player in ATP Rankings, while Asian Games bronze medallist Ankita Raina was the best India women's singles player at world No. 212.
Sasikumar Mukund, who was banned by AITA on disciplinary grounds, is back as India's best-ranked player for the World Group I Play-off tie against Togo, starting on Saturday.
Rafael Nadal trailed in the second set before overcoming No. 5 seed Cameron Norrie of Great Britain.
The unseeded Indo-Croat pairing had received a walkover in the pre-quarters on Sunday against Netherlands' Matwe Middelkoop and Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador.
Sania Mirza and Sumit Nagal failed to make the cut for the mixed doubles event due to their low combined ranking of 153.
The All India Tennis Association's selection committee retained all four playing members of the squad that beat Korea Korea 4-1 last month, for the Davis Cup World Group play-off tie against Spain, scheduled for September 16-18.
Doubles exponent Rohan Bopanna retained his place in India's Davis Cup team despite his recent run-in with the national federation, which named a five-member squad for the upcoming World Group I away tie against Finland.
Ramkumar, Poonacha and Saketh Myneni had a light session that lasted two and a half hours.
Rafael Nadal withdrew from Indian Wells on Wednesday on the eve of his first-round match.
Leander Paes might team up with Ramkumar Ramnathan instead of Sumit Nagal in this month's Asian Games after captain Zeeshan Ali said he will consider the ATP World Tour finalist's request to pair up with the senior pro.
India's singles challenge at the US Open qualifiers came to an end as Yuki Bhambri was handed a straight-set defeat by Belgium's Zizou Bergs in the second round in New York.
A look at the top tweets from your favourite Bollywood celebrities.
Tamil Nadu Tennis Association Vice President Karti Chidambaram says the top 5-6 players such as Yuki Bhambri, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Sumit Nagal, Dhakshineshwar Suresh and Nitin Sinha should be supported to travel with a common coach and trainer, play 26 tournaments, out of which at least 18 are abroad, train for 20 weeks and have six weeks of rest in a year.
The Indian challenge came to an end at the US Open with the quarter-final loss of Rohan Bopanna and his Canadian partner Denis Shapovalov in the men's doubles event.
AITA usually names five-member squad apart from one or two reserve players.
The Indian Davis Cup team was staring at defeat at the zonal level for the first time in five years following shock defeats of Ramkumar Ramanathan and Sumit Nagal on the opening day of the second round tie against China, in Tianjin, on Friday.
Ankita's defeat means that no Indian will compete in the singles main draw of the clay court Grand Slam.
India will send 117 athletes to the Paris Olympics, starting July 26 in the French capital. This will be India's second-biggest contingent at an Olympic Games after 121 athletes went to Tokyo in 2021. A total of 47 female and 70 male athletes will be part of the Indian contingent at the Games.
Both Balaji and Bhambri have got some decent results on clay in lead up to the Roland Garros, where the action will unfold during the Summer Olympics from July 27.
Sumit Nagal, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, along with team physiotherapist Yash Pandey came up with some crazy dances with Indian tennis legend Leander Paes also joining in the fun.
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