Sumit Nagal: India’s Tennis Star Who Made His Grand Slam Debut Against Roger Federer
Who would have thought that one of the absolute greats of the game of tennis, Roger Federer will start his US Open 2019 campaign with a defeat in the first set of his first round. However, on Tuesday, up against young Indian tennis star Sumit Nagal, Federer lost his first set in the first round of US Open for the first time since 2003. Given that this was Nagal’s debut in Grand slam tournaments, he had already won innumerable hearts back in India when he won the first set. Nagal thus became the first Indian to beat Roger Federer in the first set of a Grand Slam tournament after beating him 6-4. Although he could not quite clinch the match as the five-time champion of the US open proved to be too good for Sumit Nagal in the next three sets and he defeated Nagal, 6-1, 6-2 and 6-4 to move to the second round.
Who is Sumit Nagal? Sumit Nagal was born in a small village in Jhajjar district of Haryana. He came into the headlines only when he had won his last qualifying match and ensured entry into the main draw of US Open. Not only did he enter the main draw but he was set to make his debut in Grand Slam tournaments against one of the greats of the game Swiss tennis icon Roger Federer. Everyone back in India had their eyes on Sumit Nagal. Even Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli was excited for the clash and tweeted good luck to him. Learning tennis since he was 8 190th ranked Tennis player, Sumit Nagal was passionate about tennis since he was a child. In his early childhood too he would take a racquet in his hand and start playing with the ball. Sumit’s father Suresh spotted his love for tennis and enrolled him in a tennis coaching camp. To ensure Sumit gets proper training, his family shifted to New Delhi and it is here that he was received proper Tennis training.
Never looked back since 2010 One of the most important stages of his career came in 2010 when he was selected for a talent search competition. It was here that Sumit’s talent was finally being noticed. In the next eight-nine years, Sumit went on to win matches not only in the domestic level but also won matches in Canada, Spain and Germany and it is because of his talent and hard work alone that he got to debut against somebody like a Federer. Junior Wimbledon Grand Slam winner In 2015, Sumit won the junior Wimbledon Grandslam competition, becoming the sixth Indian to do so. Sumit’s favorite tournament is the US Open and he went on to make his debut in that tournament only. His favorite shot is the forehand. He prefers playing on the clay and hard courts.
More Info: BSD Sports