Hamburg European Open ATP 500 (Clay) - July 10-18, 2021

[sameerph]

Sumit Nagal lost here in second and final round of qualifying but made it in as a lucky loser.

[Q1] Sumit Nagal (IND,150) d. (WC) Lewie Lane (GER,NR) 63 61

[Q2] Sumit Nagal (IND,150) l. Zizhen Zhang (CHN,175) 46 26

Main draw-

Singles

[R1] (LL) Sumit Nagal (IND,150) vs. (Q) Juan Pablo Verilas (PER,132)

Sumit has won both his matches against Verilas so far. So, can he turn around his form here ?

Doubles

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND) / Sander Gille (BEL) vs. Ivan Sabanov (CRO) / Matej Sabanov (CRO)

[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND) / Luca Maragaroli (ITA) vs. Philip Krajinovic (SRB) / Dusan Lajovic (SRB)

[arjun2761]

That is a good break to get in as a LL and draw a qualifier!

Didn't see the match against Zhang but it looks like he couldn't handle the opponents serve as the only 2 break points he got was in the final game. Even if he has the edge on the ground (and no idea if that was true), Sumit needs to be able to break the opponent's serve because his playin serves will be comfortably broken by anyone in the top 300. So, if Varrillas isn't as good a server, Sumit may have a chance to win....

[Omkara]

An atp thread for a 500 tournament after ages.

[sameerph]

But this is quite weak field for an ATP 500 particularly for doubles. Bala and Maragaroli lost in straight sets.

[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND) / Luca Maragaroli (ITA) l. Philip Krajinovic (SRB) / Dusan Lajovic (SRB) 36 26

Sumit's first round match tomorrow at 2.30 pm India time.

[vparam]

Sumit got demolished 0-6, 4-6 by a qualifier. What’s going on with our guys? Everyone is playing awful these days and are all well below their career high rankings. Well, Sumit must be happy to pocket close to $15k for his efforts. Likely his highest paycheck of the year. Following Indian tennis is depressing!

[jayakris]

^^^ Pretty sure that Sumit has some physical ailment bothering him too. It's a horrible period for our tennis players lately.

[sameerph]

Yes, losing so badly to a player whom he had beaten twice. Looks something is wrong with him.

[vparam]

Did anyone watch the match and see what was bothering him or just assuming his poor results are due to injury?

[Sanjay]

Only 6 points in the 1st set.

He should probably take a break if there is a problem.

Indian Tennis is cursed.

[jaydeep]

Yes, a really bad loss ... As suggested many, he needs to take a break to recover (if some niggling affecting his game) and regroup before coming back on the court.

[vparam]

Divij and his partner lose 36 46 to a Croatian team in the first round of doubles. That makes 8 consecutive sets lost by Indian players in Hamburg. None even going to a tiebreak. Sad!

[Ullhas]

I think its fatigue for all our players. They have been continuously playing for last 3 months. Long travels, COVID bubbles, quarantines are simply adding more to it. Its time they should take break and regroup. Else they are posing their bodies to bigger danger of an injury layoff. Last thing we want in this already depressing period is someone going Yuki's way.

[jayakris]

^^^ I think there is a point to what you are saying. All these hassles have probably affected our players more - in terms of their ability to plan properly to take the right kind of breaks.

[sameerph]

Yes, maybe not so much physical fatigue as they have been losing early but more of a mental fatigue as they are not able to return to India as in that case going back would be an issue. Earlier they used to play a lot in Asia and therefore, would have been getting back hope for a while and going back to Asia/Europe. Now they are away from home for a long time. That may lead to affecting their performance.

[arjun2761]

Agree this staying away for long periods, often alone, is probably mentally quite challenging for many of the athletes. Also, the Asian tournaments (especially those in the southern half of Asia) are also where Indians did well, so they are also missing the tournaments where they do the best. Europe and N. America was always pretty tough for the Indians, so now they are consistently playing in the tougher venues for them.