Sumit Nagal thread

[sameerph]

I don't think Sumit backhand is weak. But, his forehand is so good that that he can hit winners regularly on that flank. So, he is tempted to run around that forehand and hit it. I think he needs to curb that instinct and try playing backhand more.

[Atithee]

Leander, Ramk and now Sumit. How did their junior days coaches justify such negligence?

Because in Indian system, the player is always bigger than the coach. The players don’t necessarily listen and only do what they feel works in the short term. Pressure of cashing in the short term is too high to focus on long term, which is a sad truth.

[jayakris]

I agree with Sameer. There is no big issue with his double-fisted backhand. He can hit winners off of it, and it is quite accurate. He runs around it if he can, to hit a forehand when appropriate - because he can bring in more variations with the FH than the BH. And he is very good at shot selection as well, and I hardly see him run around and lose time or point advantage (which I have seen some Indians do). There maybe an odd point or two where he could go for a down the line winner on the backhand and he may play an extra crosscourt shot and wait for a forehand winner though. That is unlike Leander who would not hit his good BH top-spin shot that he never trusted, rather chipping or punching and often losing advantage in the point rallies. But LP had a great "junk BH" that I have seen him use to great effect against Federer to beat him when Fed was ranked #49. LP's crazy backhand drove a 19 year Federer nuts. There is no LP-like mischief in Sumit's game. It is basically only high-percentage shots that he uses and he is good at shot selection.

Sumit's service is never a strength - and that is just like anybody of his height. But he is relatively smart with his serve and it is not that easy to hit return winners on his serve or take the upper-hand in the point.

Also, Sumit was not much in the Indian system. He was picked up by Mahesh Bhupathi for the Apollo Tyres program when very young, at age 11 or something. After a couple of years with th Bhupathi academy, Mahesh sent him to Canada and he was coached for some 5 years or something by Bobby Mahal, a very good coach. From around 13, he was in Canada. That helped in some physical improvement too (and that has been like Leander's improvement by age 25, especially his legs).

Does he get tired, later in the events? I don't know. Maybe. Just like everybody else. I am not sure. After all, he won a challenger on clay in Argentina, and that week he seemed to get only stronger in his matches as the week went on. Same at the hardcourt challenger title at Bangalore, where he played the best in the final couple of rounds against Yuki and Jay Clarke. I would imagine that he needs to stay in shape and have enough stamina for his kind of game. Many shorter players on tour play his kind of game and manage to win and keep a top-150 ranking. He can, too.

I doubt he has the kind of game that would take him much past top-75 though. But he can get to where Somdev was.

[arjun2761]

Somdev is an interesting comp for Sumit. Sumit actually dictates more points with his ground strokes than Somdev did. However, Somdev was an elite retriever with great speed and stamina and made fewer mistakes.

Based on style of play, Sumit could have more success than Somdev at the challenger level but Somdev was better against the top 100 players as his defensive skills scaled up to ATP level competition (at least against those in the 50-100 ATP range). So, not sure that Sumit can be as successful as Somdev especially if he competes in more ATP draws. Top 150 (or a little higher) based on challenger level success is definitely doable for Sumit (and in fact he has already done it in the past). To have Somdev's level of success in ATP draws, I think Sumit will need to add something to his game.

It will be interesting to compare their records against those in the 50-100 range players (which is who you have to beat to be competitive in ATP draws).

[jayakris]

^^^ Good point on Somdev's defense and retrieving skills, which were exemplary. That was the extra element in his game that took him to the ATP top-75 levels. Sumit doesn't have that, though he hits the ball harder for winners than Somdev. I just want to see him back in top125 or so, and then we can see how much higher he can go. I am so glad to see that his game is back like it was before. The surgery has not affected anything. That is great news.

[Atithee]

Somdev was the most desired top 100 opponent ever.

[arjun2761]

Per my quick review, Somdev had a 40-67 record against top 100 opponents. Pretty good for someone with few weapons. In comparison, Sumit is 4-23 against top 100 opponents.

[jayakris]

Really? Somdev had that many top-100 matches and wins? My feeling was about half of that and slightly lower winning rate around 30%... Gosh, Somdev retired way too early. He was a great player. No nonsense, all the time.

[sameerph]

Sumit is down an early break 1-3 in the first set in his R2 match against Argentine Collarini.

And Sumit broken again for 2-5 . Collarini is playing really well not making any errors and not letting Sumit settle. Sumit also making more errors than earlier matches.

First set gone at 2-6.

[sameerph]

And 2 double faults and an unforced errors gave a soft break to Collarini in first game of second set.
Collarini saves 2 breakpoints at ad-out to hold for 2-0.
And Sumit gets broken again from 40-15 up and is down 0-3. Sumit is either hitting too short today or making errors and the Argentine is playing very well to make him play the extra ball.

[prashanthm]

Wow! That turned out to be totally one-sided... And that in just over an hour...

[R2] (Q) Sumit Nagal (IND,565) l. Andrea Collarini (ARG,203) 26 16

[jayakris]

Sumit is either hitting too short today or making errors and the Argentine is playing very well to make him play the extra ball.

Pretty much. He was not playing horribly badly like the scoreline would indicate, but it seemed more like what Arjun said before - that he just didn't have much in the tank in his 4th match there. The opponent was playing very well though. That guy moved well, served well, and kept hitting to spots where Sumit couldn't get to. I thought Sumit had trouble all day in his returns. Maybe Collarini's serve had some kick in it or something. He either returned too short or in some cases too long when he seemed to over-compensate. Sumit would not even get the luck of the netchord in some rallies where he had the upper hand. Just not his day.

He didn't try to run around and hit the FH on the backhand side much though, today. He generally hit the BH properly, except that he netted it on a couple of crucial points.

Well, just like he was successful 6-0 at BPs the other day, he went 0 for 8 at BPs today (five on him, and three on the other guy). That made the scoreline look as bad as it did. But he wasn't going to win today, both due to the lack of an "edge" in his game, and Collarini making his shots consistently.

I was surprised that there was a loud chorus when he got a BP in the second set -- "Let's go soo-meet, let's go". I guess some Indians in Chile showed up??

[jayakris]

Forgot to update earlier. At the Chile challenger,

[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND)/ Daniel Rincon (ESP) vs Genaro Alberto Olivieri (ARG)/ Juan Bautista Torres (ARG), walkover
[QF] Sumit Nagal (IND)/ Daniel Rincon (ESP) l. Karol Drzewiecki (POL)/ Jakub Paul (SUI), 46 36

[Omkara]

For clay court the tank has to be big and deep. That's exactly what Som lost during his injury. Just couldn't be the same.guy he was. Once you have played at higher levels, it's impossible to continue just for the heck of it, when you are playing a few notches lower. But that's Som.

Sumit is playing his best tennis. He has age by his side. The tank can be rebuilt, better and stronger.

[arjun2761]

Don’t understand the tank analogy, but Somdev was primarily a hard court player with a very respectable 53-57 record on hard courts per the ATP tour site. This record may include Davis Cup matches but is pretty representative how good he was. Somdev didn’t play much on clay and had a poorer 6-15 record when he did play on clay.