Last year, Sumit Nagal was a world away from Melbourne Park.
Despite a meteoric rankings ascent driven by Challenger Tour titles in Italy and Finland, the All India Tennis Association declined to nominate him for an Australian Open wildcard.
DRAW: Australian Open men’s singles
But as the saying goes, the more difficult the journey, the sweeter the reward.
The world No.137, who in September admitted that his bank balance had fallen to €900, did it the hard way: through qualifying. Nagal posted straight-sets victories to earn a first round clash at AO 2024 against 31st seed Alexander Bublik.
On Tuesday, India’s top singles player chalked up one of the biggest wins of his career, letting out a roar after stunning the Kazah with a commanding 6-4 6-2 7-6(5) scoreline.
“I've worked very hard with my team, and I'm very proud of myself to be able to handle the things that I'm going through and be able to perform the way I want to perform,” the 26-year-old said. He added that he felt no pressure as the underdog. “It's a good feeling.”
He's guaranteed to earn AUD $180,000 by reaching the second round of a major for the first time since the 2020 US Open, where he took a set off Roger Federer. He’s the first player from his nation to reach the round of 64 in Melbourne since Somdev Devvarman in 2013, and the first Indian player to knock out a seed at the AO since Ramesh Krishnan in 1989.
Nagal hopes his results will encourage a new generation of tennis players and increased funding in his country.
“There was a time where we had a lot of singles players playing in the slams, I feel like we are missing quite a bit in the last few years,” he said.
“My goal is to change that in the next years… whenever I stop tennis, I hope I can put an impact on the country where we can change the system and have people playing in the singles draw as well,” said Nagal, who is close friends with countryman and doubles specialist Rohan Bopanna.
Nagal, who was born in Jhajjar, a town west of New Delhi, is based in Peine, Germany at an academy run by coach Sascha Nensel, which counts Devvarman as part of its team.
The lean right-hander has plenty of ideas for how to develop tennis in his home nation, where cricket – a sport he played as a kid and still follows as a fan – reigns supreme.
“Have more tournaments in the country, bring coaches in, [add] better facilities, just a better system,” Nagal said. “Why are all tennis players - singles I'm talking about - going outside India and living outside India to give themselves a chance? We should ask why.”
During his debut at Tokyo 2020, he broke a drought to become the first Indian player to win a singles match since Leander Paes at the Atlanta 1996 event.
Nagal on Tuesday paid tribute to Paes’s long-time doubles partner Mahesh Bhupathi – a three-time Grand Slam champion – for support early in his career.
“He's like my second father,” smiled Nagal, adding that Bhupathi had congratulated him on his momentous win over Bublik.
“There was a program in 2008 in Bangalore, which was run by Mahesh [and] I went there for two years,” Nagal explained.
“In 2010, the program got shut. I went back to Delhi in January, [then] I quit… my dad is a teacher, so I said it's impossible to afford this.”
“End of March [or] April, I get a call from Mahesh saying, ‘Listen, I'll take care of you. Do you still want to play tennis?’”
“I said, ‘Sure, I would love to play’. That's how the journey started again,” he said.
In the second round, his compatriots – including some top cricketers – will be supporting Nagal from afar when he takes on wildcard Juncheng “Jerry” Shang, who defeated Mackenzie McDonald in five sets.
Nagal, who received congratulatory messages on social media from the likes of Dinesh Karthik and Sachin Tendulkar, said he occasionally speaks with Virat Kohli, one of the sport’s biggest stars who supported the youngster in the formative years of his career.
Success at a major isn’t completely foreign to Nagal, though.
At 17, he clinched the Wimbledon 2015 boys’ doubles title with partner Ly Hoang Nam. The pair defeated duos that featured Casper Ruud, Alex De Minaur, Miomir Kecmanovic and Reilly Opelka –who have all since cracked the ATP Tour’s top 30.
The fact that it’s been a longer and much more winding road for Nagal is why he isn’t hesitating to relish his Melbourne breakthrough.
“You have to enjoy this, it doesn't stay forever,” said Nagal. “You never know in tennis what happens next, where you can go to a tournament and not even be able to put two balls in, and thank you very much, the tournament [is] over.”
For now, his AO 2024 campaign is alive and well, and a maiden berth in the round of 32 remains in reach.
“Everyone dreams,” said Nagal. With continued hard work and perseverance, he's well positioned to make those dreams a reality.