It was a wonderful day for Indian Tennis fans and this day will forever be marked by a young, energetic 22-year-old rising star from India who created history by becoming the first Indian to win a set against the G.O.A.T himself, Roger Federer.
Nagal, however, lost 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in a match that lasted two hours and 30 minutes. But what drew attention was the incredible composer he showed to win the first set which ironically sparked a debate on Indian Tennis after a long time.
Sania Mirza, Mahesh Bhupati, Leader Paes are a few names who have gained prominence in the sport of Tennis but it had been a couple of years since the media covered an Indian Tennis star. We’ve been producing talented players who have been showing potential to become future Grand Slam Champions but for a fact we also know that there is still alot to be done to see someone from India winning a Grand Slam.
What are the major reasons that you think Why India fails to produce a Top class Singles Grand Slam Winner?
Taking a set against a 20-time Grand Slam Champion definitely took the tennis fans around the world by surprise.
Sumit Nagal’s potential was first recognized by Mahesh Bhupathi and he was fortunate to get training from Bhupathi until 2012. Later Sumit moved to Canada and 3 years later moved his base to Germany. He is now training at Nensel Academy in Germany and is trained by head coach Sascha Nensel and Milos Galecic (fitness trainer).
Sumit benefitted from his move abroad as he got the opportunity to play tournaments on Challenger Circuit. Participation in these tournaments and having made to 5 semi-finals and a quarterfinal gave him 170 points this year, which boosted his ranking among the top-200.
The opportunity to play Challenger level tournaments consistently in and around Europe has been the key to his progress.
Yash:
Why India fails to produce a Top class Singles Grand Slam Winner?
I don’t think India lacks talent that can be honed to produce a Grand Slam winner/s. However, there are a few key reasons contributing to our failure to produce a Top class Singles Grand Slam Winner:
Indian players struggle to move up the ranking ladder: There are not enough challenger circuit tournaments played within India to collect points. In order to collect these points, players have to travel abroad. Not everybody can afford these expensive pre-requisites for qualification. Let alone the luxury of traveling with a coach or a physio for support during their rigorous match schedules.
The European, American and Australian players do not face this problem. For instance, every year France and Italy host about 30 tournaments while Germany hosts 7 and Spain 6 competitions. Players can travel to these close by nations to participate in these competitions. Compared to this India host only 2 tournaments - TNTA in Chennai and MSLTA in Pune. India fails to allocate funds to host more circuit tournaments. No wonder these developed nations produce the maximum number of champions.
None of India’s top singles player like Prajnesh Gunneswaran (ranked 90), Yuki Bhambri and Sumit Nagal benefitted from the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) program of Sports Authority of India. Under TOPS program a sportsperson gets Rs 50,000 a month but these funds are not sufficient to cover even basic requirement for tennis training. All these players had to dig deep into their personal financial resources to afford training in Canada, Barcelona, Germany and other European countries.
Apart from this, India lacks good and easily accessible infrastructure, professional international level coaches and trainers at grass-root level, and last but not the least the funds to pursue this expensive sport on a competitive level.
If India aspires to see more players competing at Grand slam and win a Grand Slam singles title then it needs to work on providing the necessary opportunities within India and back potential talent financially.
But, for me, what we all overlook is Indian weather condition and Natural build of Indians. They are not conducive for physically demanding sports.
If system and Infra could produce champions, China, Japan, Korea would have world class footballers, Athletes, Tennis Players etc.
Caucasians & Negroids are more suitable for physically demanding sports and will always win over other races. Also, people living in cold climates will win over people from hotter climates in physically demanding sports.
If India aspires to be known as a tennis nation and wants to see more players competing at Grand Slams, it needs to back its players. Back players with financial help and infrastructure facilities.
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Yuki is largely self-trained while Ramkumar trained in Barcelona with the support of TNTA. Prajnesh’s father had the financial resources to put him in an academy in Barcelona and Nagal found his back in Mahesh Bhupathi and that’s one reason these selected lads have made up to the top tier tounaments.
Do you know how many Challenger tournaments India has hosted since the beginning of 2019 season? Only one.
How many tournaments India will host in the remainder of the season? Again ‘one’. This is one reason why Indian tennis stars find it hard to grab points and move up the order.
These are the list of players who have faced Roger Federer before and Sumit Ngal is the only one who has won a set against the GOAT.
I wish to see Indian Tennis players making their mark in Grand Slams and Sumit Nagal has the potential to win one if he is backed and supported by the ITF & AITA
Young Indian Tennis sensation, Sumit Nagal who made the headlines last year is set to compete in his second Grand Slam main draw after receiving a direct entry into the US Open 2020. He will be the only Indian in the men’s singles and the world number 127 was the last man to receive a direct entry. He is currently playing his challengers in Czech Republic and will fly to USA after that.
. All the best
Yash:
