One year back at the 2024 Australian Open, Sumit Nagal hit the headlines for becoming the first Indian man to beat a seeded opponent at a Grand Slam since 1989. His win over then world No 27 Alexander Bublik as a qualifier captured the fancy of many, given the on and off-court challenges he braved to get there.
Thus began what was a career-changing season; and a first full one on the ATP Tour for the 27-year-old Indian who had often been waylaid by injury. The result: a breakthrough run into the Top 100 in the world, a career high ranking of 68 – the fourth highest by an Indian man since 1973, two ATP Challenger titles, playing all four Grand Slams in a year, first Indian ever to win an ATP Masters 1000 match on clay.
It may not seem like much seen from a global tennis lens. But for a success-starved Indian tennis audience (especially in singles), Nagal became a symbol of hope last January and for him to directly reach a second straight Australian Open as a top 100 player is solid proof of improvement and consistency.
As he heads into the Australian Open 2025 as world No 96, his goal is rather straightforward: “I just want to stay healthy, play the tennis I want to play, and keep on improving. That’s the only thing I’m always behind, I need to keep on improving,” Nagal told ESPN in December. For a player who has lost a few good years to physical struggles and had to make the difficult choice of hip surgery, being injury-free and able to play his natural game is an important goal.
It will be another big challenge in Melbourne, as he has drawn world No. 26 Tomas Machac in the first round. Machac is a talented, highly rated player with wins over Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz in 2024 and the swift racquet skills to counter Nagal’s style of play. But if he can do it once, he can possibly do it again. If Nagal gets another upset win, he could face Rilley Opelka who had a great start to the season but had to retire in the Brisbane final.
Nagal’s game has improved since his last time here and he understandably has more match time under his belt. He accords a lot of importance to constant improvement. “You have to keep on improving, because in tennis if you don’t improve people will pass you very fast. My main focus has always been to improve because if you are playing good tennis, you’ll be there [in the top tier] and nobody can take it away from you. Nobody has a perfect stroke in tennis. It doesn’t exist, you know? There’s always something you can improve in tennis.”
In Nagal’s case, the improvement means fine-tuning almost all aspects of the game at the highest level, given his relative inexperience. He has the big strokes and explosive power, but on the faster hard courts, like in Melbourne, he often gets in trouble with serve and close in net play.
The year 2024 was his first, largely interrupted season and although he couldn’t make inroads at other Majors as he did at the start, he’s maintained a top 100 rank once he entered it last February with a hard-court Challenger win at home in Chennai. That was a big moment for him. “There were a lot of emotions involved, because that’s where the first time I broke top 100, especially for how long I wanted to do that.” Playing in the top tier, and being able to play in the Grand Slam main draw, is crucial in tennis because that’s where the game is lucrative. Nagal, who has been honest about his financial situation in the past, (remember the viral 900 euros in my account quote), is in a good space now. “If you’re doing well, people will help,” he says succinctly.
He had a good pre-season in Dubai, where a bunch of top players had their pre-season, competed in the World Tennis League before heading Down Under. He started this season with a first-round loss at a Challenger in Canberra but did well this week in Auckland where he beat Alexander Klintcharov and the higher ranked Adrian Mannarino in the Open qualifiers. He lost in the first round to Alex Michelsen in a three-game marathon before heading to Melbourne.
This tennis rollercoaster is something he wants to enjoy, especially after all the time he spent away during his hip surgery, rehab and subsequent climb from sub-600 rankings. ‘It’s a journey, obviously there’s going to be good and bad days, bad weeks, but you have to kind of enjoy both.”
Sumit Nagal will take on Tomas Machac on Sunday at approximately 8 AM.
