Sumit Nagal thread

[Sanjay]

End of the year is just another arbitrary point. Does not matter. They should just play game by game and try to keep winning. Practice, get better, plan well, take care of your body, move on.

I agree with your assessment. At his level, he should only worry about each match and how to win each match. Everything else will take care of itself.

[prasen9]

This idea of "defending points" is sort of an artificial one too. What will happen if you do not? Your ranking goes down and you play a lower ranked tournament and then you win and come back up again. Of course, when the paycheck goes down that is the real problem. The real problem is not the points and ranking loss but the loss of pay. As it is these guys struggle to make ends meet. Now, when they are back to futures level, then the pay goes down and it becomes a struggle again to have to work one's way back.

[Rajiv]

Year end rankings determine the entry level to the first GS slam of the year, and since the past decade for a Indian #1/2 to be worthy of that position atleast should be able to play GS qualies if not direct entry.

Sumit is in danger of missing the qualies spot, if this present form continues and cannot collect enough points.
But if one is not concerned like that period after Leander where for over a decade there was no one even at GS qualies,  and our #1's were 280's /300' + range than yes correct...and it is fair to say that ranking is just a arbitrary artificial point.

[sameerph]

True, Sumit needs some luck with draws too to get one good week which can get him back into form. Last week the Chilean Vera who beat Sumit in 3 sets went on to win the title.

Sumit is off this week and must be travelling to US to play US open qualies next week. Just one week on hard court it seems and then he is back to Euope for clay challenger in Italy the week after.

[prasen9]

Year end rankings determine the entry level to the first GS slam of the year,

Which is one of four such events. So, there will be three more such cutoff dates in the next year. Yes, entering the "GS" events is important because it makes them a ton of money and thereby gives them the wherewithal to get better coaches, trainers, have a better schedule, etc.

Our players honestly do not do much in the "GS" events. Really, in five years time, I will not have any value for any of these qualies and first-round losses in the slams (thanks PKB, I am being careful now ). What is the record? Sumit won one round at the USO? But, money-wise, more power to them. Once we have someone, who in some tournament, can perhaps win some first-round matches in the slams regularly, I will be very interested in them not missing the slams.

[Rajiv]

If one is trapped in 240/250+ range it is a torturous road and takes incredibly long time to reach say top 125/150 and even for this there is no guarantee.Plus he is not your Somdev type whom we can count on , Somdev even when dropped to 800 / 1000 never had any doubt that top 150 / 100 is there for asking, which he did.
But as you say if he misses the first chance , always there are three more , than one can also say should he miss even those 3 , there is 2023 to look up too... so all seems to be fine and ok for now.

[prasen9]

I am not saying things are fine and okay. It is always harder to climb back up than to maintain a ranking, I think. Especially, in these days of fewer tournaments due to COVID for who knows how long. But, I do think that if you cannot maintain your ranking, you do not belong there. You lost your form and you lost to a bunch of people. So, show us if you can regain your form or else you belong in the lower echelon. All good when I am talking about someone else. But, that person who is trying to maintain their ranking and earn a very hard living has it tough. I recognize all that.

[Rajiv]

Sumit has entered the challenger at Como next week , and than later , he has entered nowhere. and than strangely during davis cup week has entered a challenger in Poland , Of course he can withdraw by the time the deadline arrive's , but why would he give his entry in the first place knowing fully it is the Davis cup week , as neither Ram nor Prajnesh have entered anywhere during the DC week , or may be he (Sumit) has already made up his mind to skip the DC tie all together.

Meantime next week Ram & Prajnesh will be at Mallorca & St.Tropez and later both at Cassis and the 3rd week is DC, no tournaments for them during that week.

[vparam]

Is it safe to assume Sumit has no interest in playing on hard courts besides trying to qualify for the Australian and US Open?

[VReddy]

Sumit has entered the challenger at Como next week , and than later , he has entered nowhere. and than strangely during davis cup week has entered a challenger in Poland , Of course he can withdraw by the time the deadline arrive's , but why would he give his entry in the first place knowing fully it is the Davis cup week , as neither Ram nor Prajnesh have entered anywhere during the DC week , or may be he (Sumit) has already made up his mind to skip the DC tie all together.

I hope he does actually. I find the whole patriotism around Davis Cup a bit of a paradox. How can one be patriotic and be representative of an AITA selected team when AITA is a family run institution and generally tends to do things against the constitutional values of India. This is a complex topic, can be extrapolated in different ways, so wont expand here but ya happy if our players start taking it as just another event. Need to evolve with times while being cognizant of the impact of funding that is associated with these institutions like TOPS, NSF, etc,.

[Rajiv]

At the Italian Challenger in Como , Sumit the 6th seed takes on KUZNETSOV, Andrey ranked 280 , the Russian has a CH of 39 achieved in 2016.

[Sanjay]

Just watched the last few games of Sumit's match, not very good, he constantly hit the net on seemingly easy shots on open courts. He is a different player from earlier years.

[sameerph]

Another first round loss for Sumit.

At Como Challenger, Italy (Clay)


[R1] (6) Sumit Nagal (IND,164) l. Andrey Kuznetsov (RUS,280) 46 67(4)

[sameerph]

Just watched the last few games of Sumit's match, not very good, he constantly hit the net on seemingly easy shots on open courts. He is a different player from earlier years.

Not from earlier years. Even from earlier this year. He did make an ATP quarter final this year in Argentina. Just lost his form in last 3 months. I don't think he is playing too bad or anything. He just needs to be at his best to beat these Europeans on clay which he was earlier in the year but not now. Needs some confidence boosting wins.

[Rajiv]

He looked quite listless in his play, and not the Sumit we know ,who played with a missionary zeal.
Now comes the worrying part,93 points dropping on 13th Sept, and another 80 points on 27th Sept.