New Delhi, May 22: India has produced a handful of quality tennis players. Some of them have won Grand Slams. Though no Indian has so far won a Grand Slam in the Single-category, but men's doubles and mixed doubles Grand Slam titles have been won by Indians.
But however, during the last five years, no Indian has qualified to play Wimbledon Singles. That news is bit disheartening.
But after five years, there seems to be a good news finaly, as Indian tennis star Sumit Nagal is all set for his Wimbledon main draw debut.
The main draw of the grass court major is scheduled to begin on July one.
Nagal has competed at Wimbledon once before, in the qualifying rounds in 2018, where he lost in straight sets to Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak. The last Indian to play in the Wimbledon singles draw was Prajnesh Gunneswaran in 2019.
The 26-year-old, who is currently ranked 94 in the ATP rankings, has achieved a new career-high men’s singles ranking of 80 last month.
Nagal won the Junior Wimbledon Boys' Doubles title in 2015 with his Vietnamese partner Nam Hoang Ly. Notably, Ramanathan Krishnan was the first Indian to win the a junior's Wimbledon title in 1954.
He will also make his Roland Garros main draw debut on clay this month. The main draw matches at the second Grand Slam of the year begin on May 26.
Sumit Nagal secured his place in the main draw of the men’s singles thanks to his career-high world ranking of 80. He is the first Indian male player to qualify for the French Open main draw since Prajnesh in 2019.
Nagal recently stunned world No. 38 Matteo Arnaldi at the Monte Carlo Masters, where he became the first Indian tennis player to qualify for the main draw of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in 42 years.
It is unlikely that Nagal can win the Wimbledon Singles crown. But the more he plays at the highest level, the better he will evolve as a Singles player. Inspired by his performance, some others may sharpen their skills and qualify in future to play Singles matches in Grand Slams. (With IANS support)
