Sumit Nagal Biography-2020

Sumit Nagal’s journey in the game of Tennis

When we talk about  Indian Tennis the name which pops up on most of the people’s tongue is Leander Peas or Mahesh Bhupathi. But recently Sumit has emerged out of the shadow and has shined brighter.

• Early Days:

Sumit Nagal was born right after Independence Day in 1997. He was born on 16 August at Jhajjar a place in Haryana. Sumit gained his education from Little Angels Senior Secondary School in Jhajjar. He later went to Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya, Paschim Vihar, New Delhi.

Sumit had a keen interest in the field of sports from a young age. He admired the game of cricket the most but his father asked him to try something different and you. On his father’s advice, he tried the game of tennis and he loved the game equally as much as he loved cricket.

Sumit developed his skills and adapted in the game really well. His school coach told his father that Sumit can play at the bigger stage and asked his father to provide him with professional training in the sport.

At the age of 7, Sumit Nagal joined Delhi Development Authority (DDA) Tennis Academy. A year later at the age of 8, he won his first tournament.

• Career:

In the year 2018, a big leap came into Sumit Nagal’s career. Mahesh Bhupathi and other International stage players had been organising a talent hunt competition since early 2009 to find India’s first Singles’s Grand Slam winner by 2018 and in 2018 Sumit was one of the youngest players in the tournament.

More than 5000, participants took part in it and Sumit was one of the few who got the chance to play against Mahesh Bhupathi. Later Sumit was trained by Mahesh Bhupathi from whom he learned a lot.  Later even when the programme was shut Mahesh Bhupathi provided him with all the support that he needed.

In the year 2016, he made his debut for India in the Davis Cup and gathered heaps of praise from all over as his performance was extremely well.

In the year 2019, he became the first Asian person to win the ATP challenger tournament which was held in Buenos Aires.

2020 hasn’t been a great year for sportsperson but Sumit Nagal has managed to make most out of it. Three days back on 2nd September he created the history as he became the first Indian to reach the second round of Grand Slam after seven years.

He defeated Bradley Klahn by 6-1,6-3,3-6,6-1 in the inaugural round of US Open.

• Nagal’s game style:

Sumit Nagal is Right-handed aggressive baseliner (two-handed backhand) so the positive point about his game is that he plays strong shots from the back of the court. He loves to attack and also he holds the potential to redirect pacey shots off both wings.

Nagal has a solid net game and has indicated the capacity to cut his volleys into the corners on focuses set up by his large forehand. His assaulting attitude has earned him a lot of accomplishment on brisk courts as of now, while his topspin-weighty forehand is additionally suitable for clay.

• Interesting facts about Sumit Nagal:

1. Sumit’s favourite tennis player is Novak Djokovic.
2. Sumit is passionate about online games.
3. Nagal turned professional in 2015 and has so far earned over USD 153,000 in prize money.
4. Nagal is currently ranked 190 in the world, which is his career highest.
5. He is being supported by the Virat Kohli Foundation’s Athlete Development Programme and has been sponsoring Nagal’s tournaments, training expenses, nutrition and every other requirement.

Follow Sumit Nagal on Twitter: @nagalsumit

Also read: Harbhajan Singh opts out of IPL 2020.