Tennis in India has never been as big as cricket or football. But the country has produced many stars who had made India proud in the international circuit. A tennis player from India named Sumit Nagal has made the country proud by winning a set against legendary tennis player Roger Federer in the US Open 2019 at the Arthur Ashe stadium on August 26.
The 22-year-old tennis player won the opening set of the match and went down fighting in the first round fixture of the tournament. Nagal who was playing his first Grand Slam match broke the legendary Swiss player in the ninth game of the first set to win it 6-4, much to the shock of tennis fans all over the world.
Even though he lost the match, the 22-year-old delighted the crowd with his game. The score-board at the end of the match read 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 for Federer.
The Indian prodigy has won the hearts of millions of tennis fans all over the world and has become an overnight sensation in India.
Story of Sumit Nagal
Sumit Nagal, the boy on whom the hopes of India were pinned is a 22-year-old budding tennis player from Jhajjar district of Haryana. Nagal's childhood dream was to become a cricketer but his father convinced him not to. Gradually he fell in love with tennis and after some time he was selected by Mahesh Bhupati for his academy.
This changed the life of Nagal who never looked back after that. The 190th ranked player started to grow regularly as a player and has been playing consistently well. He made his Davis Cup debut for India in 2016 against Spain.
He won his only ATP Challenger Tour title in 2017, defeating American Jay Clarke in the final. The youngster who seeks inspiration from Japanese culture recently came second in the Junior Asian Games 2018 along with Amandeep Singh.
The Indian tennis player has also been in a controversy related to him being dropped from the Anand Amritraj-led Davis Cup squad in 2017 due to disciplinary issues.
His road to the US Open 2019 main draw had been interesting. Nagal had beaten Tatsum Ito of Japan and Peter Polansky in the first two fixtures of the qualifiers in straight sets. He came back from a set down in the final fixture of the qualifier to beat his Brazilian opponent Joao Menezes 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
He was elated after his win as he had to struggle hard and keep himself calm and composed to get through the match. The 22-year old was trailing in the second set 1-4 and from there, he made his comeback.
After the Roger Federer match, the world got to know about the 22-year-old and his future also looks bright. In the upcoming years, this young Indian player will continue to entertain tennis fans with his game and can actually make it big for the country as he has the hunger to achieve more.
