The fall and rise of Nagal

There is a massive confusion out there in the tennis world these days over a surname Well everyone knows of the famous surname Nadal but Nagal is the one who has made people sit up and take noticeRafael Nadal is known to all But Sumit Nagal an Indian creating a flutter in 2024 is indeed the talking pointNagal has been pretty much like the proverbial Phoenix To say that 2024 has been the breakthrough year for Nagal the young man from Jhajjar Haryana would be stating the obviousHaryana and tennis You gotta be kidding said a few folks when Nagal had picked up a tennis racquet and started whacking the green fuzzy ball on tennis courts well over 15 years back Any talk of an athlete from Haryana will immediately lead one to think the boy or girl man or woman who has taken to sports like boxing wrestling or hockeyAlso ReadIPL 2024 KKR eager to get back on winning ways vs LSGNagal the maverickYes Nagal is a maverick in all ways He comes from a family which did not have a hefty bank balance to back him After all tennis is an expensive sport and young Sumit was not going to find sponsors early in life The beauty about his success story lies in fighting adversities and poverty almost coming to a stage of being broke during the COVID19 pandemic To make things worse he landed up with health issues necessitating a surgery as well The focus is now on how Nagal has bounced back just like a fresh juicy new tennis ballRewind to over a decade back Nagal had shown potential and promise India was not the best place to train Lack of quality tennis has been a handicap plus no good trainers to work with him At a time when India has positioned itself as a nation which can win medals on the big stage called the Olympics and Asian Games tennis has lagged big time Yes Leander Paes the most patriotic athlete this writer has seen tore the form book to shreds and showed that the underdog tag would suit him even when he went to the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 That Paes won a historic bronze is etched in historyVirat KohliThere can be no comparison with Paes but in terms of an Indian doing well again in singles Nagal has caught the eye One has to rewind to the years gone by when another superb doubles specialist Mahesh Bhupathi spotted the latent talent in Nagal Bhupathi did help Nagal but the major funding for Nagal came from the Virat Kohli Foundation almost seven years agoHad it not been for that funding Nagal could not have set up base in Germany The guy has a large heart brave and likes to play bold tennis Nagal may not be a Paes in terms of foot speed and electric hands at the net to execute volleys Nagalrsquos strength is baseline play and grinding out rallies where he has patience If he lacks something in the rallies it is the inability to come in and close out a point Experts say he needs a winner in his arsenal something which Jaidip Mukerjea referred toAlso ReadIPL 2024 He was missing piece in our winning combination Amre praises Kuldeep after 3 wicketsWhen COVID had the world on its knees Nagal was hit hard He faced nearstarvation his bank balance had touched the danger limit Tournaments in Europe had gone bust during the pandemic and Nagal struggled to make both ends meet forget travel in Europe If he had talked of finding it hard to get meals on time it was no exaggeration Those dark days this writer had kept in touch with NagalA Haryanvi by nature Nagal never lost heart but wondered where the next few Euro or US dollar bills would come from A sinking bank balance no insurance to protect him Nagal struggled People can recall him winning a set off Roger Federer at the US Open in 2019 A few years later they will recall Nagal winning a set off Holger Rune in Monte Carlo on Thursday But not many would know Nagal was frustrated last SeptemberOctober when he had no sponsor When Gatorade signed him up bang in the middle of the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year Nagal was overjoyed ldquoI am not asking for riches I am asking for a coach physio trainers to back merdquo he told this writer thenOnce the sponsorship came in Nagal got the right personnel on board A physio trainer coach and mental health expert are all at his disposal today When he competed in a clutch of Challengers at the start of the year in Chennai Bangalore and Pune Nagal had shown he was tough and ready to fight He had Somdev Devvarman another baseline baron to help him as parttime coachToday Nagal has Sascha Nensel as fulltime coach The Indianrsquos exploits have raged in 2024 from the Australia Open qualifying and then main draw in Melbourne to the United States of America ATP Tour events This is the clay swing before the French Open And this is Nagalrsquos surface like Nadal Okay this Indian dude is not going to win 14 French Open titles but at least he comes like a whiff of fresh air in a stale state that Indian tennis is in The only exception is Rohan Bopanna Level 44 as he calls himself playing solid doubles tennis with Matt EbdenAs per current calculations Nagal could be ranked around 80 on Monday when the new ATP rankings are released ldquoI am taking some time off to trainrdquo Nagal told Sunday midday on FridaySumit likely to make cut for ParisHe will prepare hard for the French Open What is also more or less certain is Nagal will make the cut for the Paris Olympics singles draw Asked about what it felt like to break the 100barrier in ranking in February Nagal said ldquoIt was the most emotional day for me As a kid everyone wants to be a Top 100 player Everyone dreams of having that doubledigit rankingrdquo For the record Nagal is raking in a few green bucks as well as prize money today From poverty to affording the basics in life as a tennis player penance has paid for him Still any confusion over Nadal and Nagal2019The year in which Sumit Nagal took a set off Roger Federer at the US Open The Swiss legend won 46 61 62 64S Kannan is a consulting editor at Revsportz