An ecstatic Suresh Nagal was finding it difficult to express his delight in words after learning his son Sumit's triumph in the final of the Wimbledon's junior boys' doubles and dedicated the success to Mahesh Bhupathi, who has been a mentor for the 17-year-old.
Enduring a dismal season this year, defending champion Sumit Nagal Monday began his campaign at the USD 150,000 Bengaluru Open with a bang by defeating last year's finalist Briton's Jay Clarke in the opening round.
A bullish Sumit Nagal says he has learnt to control his inner demons and is ready to cause "more damage" on the ATP circuit after a spirited show against Roger Federer on his Grand Slam debut.
Ramanathan, who is seeded 15th in the Qualifiers, lost 3-6, 4-6 to Italian Simone Bolleli, while 239th ranked Sumit Nagal, who is going through a rough patch, suffered his eighth straight first round defeat when he was thrashed 2-6, 0-6 by Poland's Kamil Majchrzak, ranked 192.
'We were the best team in Asia at one point. Today, we are barely in the reckoning for the Davis Cup.' 'Players now, especially this decade, lack perseverance.'
India's singles tennis players will return empty-handed from the Asian Games for the first time since 2006.
India's singles challenge has already ended with both Sumit Nagal and Ramkumar Ramanathan making first round exits.
Yuki Bhambri advanced to the men's singles second round after a hard-fought win over Moldovian Radu Albot in the US Open qualifiers in New York.
Ruthless Ruud topples Shapovalov to win Geneva Open.
Counter-puncher Sumit Nagal blunted the challenge of big-serving Beibit Zhukayev with his perseverance while Ankita Raina outgunned Adithya P Karunaratne without fuss as the two Indians inched closer to singles medals.
India's number one tennis player Sumit Nagal is left with less than Rs one lakh in his bank account and a morose feeling of not leading a good life.
'I still have the exact budget which I had in 2018 when I was ranked 350. It's that when I needed the most which is right now, I see people turning around and walking away.'
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Nagal said he would look to play more ATP Tour events this year but for that he would have to first improve his rankings.
Sumit Nagal has been dropped from the five-member Indian Davis Cup team for the World Group 1 play-off tie against Denmark in New Delhi next month.
'Disappointed to not get over the line today, but also very proud of the run I had.'
Prajnesh Gunneswaran got a taste of high-level tennis in his first-round exit from the US Open, losing to world number five Daniil Medvedev in 84 minutes, in New York, on Monday.
Davis Cup: Bold move by India, captain Rajpal fields Dhakshineswar against Switzerland
AITA President Anil Jain, who was accused of using his position for personal gains, avoided facing a no-confidence motion from the state associations only after he agreed to step aside.
The 44-year-old Bopanna had also lost in the men's doubles in the third round when he and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden were beaten by the Argentine duo of Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.
Leaders across the political spectrum took to Twitter on Monday morning to extend congratulations to Leander Paes and Sumit Nagal.
India's first and only tennis medal in the history of Olympic Games came way back in 1996, when Leander Paes claimed the singles bronze in Atlanta.
Sumit Nagal had impressed on his Davis Cup debut against Spain not so long ago but the youngster has been dropped from the team for the upcoming New Zealand tie due to serious breach of discipline, the All India Tennis Asssociation sources claimed on Tuesday.
The All India Tennis Association claimed that Sumit Nagal demanded an annual fee of $50,000 to play Davis Cup ties for India.
'But it's not something that I really focus on. That's not really my goal.'
Meanwhile, Sumit Nagal was trailing in his second round men's singles match against Holger Rune of Denmark, when rain led to a suspension of the contest.
Former Davis Cup captain Anand Amritraj is baffled that India's best singles players are not able to win close matches on the ATP World Tour despite having a decent game to back them.
Sasikumar Mukund will aim for a winning return to the Davis Cup fold as India faces Togo in the World Group I Play-off.
Experienced Indian Rohan Bopanna and his Canadian partner Denis Shapovalo advanced to the second round of the US Open men's doubles event after a straight-set win in New York.
Rohan Bopanna and Nicolas Barrientos bowed out of the Australian Open men's doubles with an opening-round loss to the Spanish team of Pedro Martinez and Jaume Munar.
India's doubles specialist Rohan Bopanna, who failed to make the cut for the Tokyo Olympics along with Divij Sharan because of their low combined rank, on Monday accused All India Tennis Association (AITA) of misleading everyone by claiming it had changed the combination by pairing him with Sumit Nagal for a shot at qualification.
'To win a medal, the players will have to play a couple of tough rounds. The draws are fine, and balanced and give us the opportunity to go deep.'
Bopanna and Shapovalov will take on Dutch-Romanian combination of Jeal-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in the quarterfinals.
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.
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.
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.
Former Indian tennis captain Anand Amritraj has criticized top players Sumit Nagal and Yuki Bhambri for not playing in the Davis Cup, stating that money should not be a factor when representing the country.
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.
Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and his partner Vijay Sundar Prashanth clinched their maiden ATP title together, winning the Hangzhou Open men's doubles event, while Yuki Bhambri and his French partner Albano Olivetti finished runners-up at the Chengdu Open
