Sumit Nagal thread

[jayakris]

At the $12,418,990 ATP Masters 1000, Indian Wells, CA, USA (Hard)

[R1] (LL) Sumit Nagal (IND,101) vs (PR) Milos Raonic (CAN,224)

Sumit went down a break in the 4th game... Saved two set pts at 2-5 and stayed alive to 3-5... Raonic took the set 6-3... Match suspended due to rain.

[arjun2761]

Sumit down a break at 3-4 in the second set. Is getting outgunned but Raonic looks quite frail.

[arjun2761]

Sumit loses 3-6, 3-6.

Overall not very smart tennis by Sumit as Raonic looks quite quite limited in what he could do but Sumit seemingly was unable to push his opponent.

[Sanjay]

Raonic seemed sluggish and like a pudgy uncle who just strolled on a tennis court to hit some balls with the local kids. His serve was top notch. Not bad, Sumit did not get blown out, the end score was respectable. Raonic's rankings are misleading.

[Omkara]

In today's tennis one good weapon makes you an above average player. That is Raonic.

Sumit has good basic all round game that has taken him to top 100. But thats never enough to beat players like Raonic. Let's see if he has the fitness to sustain his current form.
The clay season will favour Sumit.

[vparam]

Sumit’s game is limited with respect to making the jump into the top 75 unless he gets real lucky and gets the perfect matchup. With our Indian singles players mostly a non factor these days, I’ll just be happy to see Sumit hang around the top 100, make a few ATP maindraws and steal a match or two. I won’t get greedy and pretend like he can make the top 50 and say he’s now playing like he belongs there. With nothing to get excited in singles for a long time, I’m just happy to see we have another player at this current ranking. Just praying Sumit stays healthy and has a good support team around him.

[prasen9]

His best path forward will be via the clay season. However, he also is not very fit in the third set of a match a la Somdev. If he can become very fit and can run around forever like Somdev used to, then he may have a chance to move into the top 70 or so.

[Omkara]

These days I don't favour a fitness based game. The ones who keep running. One injury and Somdev was half the player he was. Post injury Sumit has managed his game better. He reached his career peak after injury. That's good.

[prasen9]

I am not saying I favor it per say but that is his game, imho. For that game, fitness is required and Sumit seems to be tired in too many matches that goes into the third set. If he gets his fitness better, then he will win more. I am sure that he knows this and for whatever reason he has not been able to build up that much stamina.

[Omkara]

That I agree. He gets tired too soon. He needs to work on his fitness

[arjun2761]

I think Sumit needs to manage his injuries but is otherwise pretty fit.

In any case, this loss to Raonic was not due to fitness as most rallies were fairly short and there was a big rain delay in the middle. There were hardly any rallies that went 9 shots or more. The stats show that Sumit was most effective in rallies of 5-8 shots.
https://www.atptour.com/en/scores/stats ... lyAnalysis

The commentator on Tennis Channel, Jim Courier, noted that Sumit needed to attack Raonic's backhand and move him around. Sumit didn't do that (or perhaps wasn't able to do that). I only watched the last few games, and Courier repeatedly called for Sumit to place his serves to Raonic's b/h but mostly he served to Raonic's f/h and many of his serves just came back as winners. This is a game he needed to play like Somdev, that is grind it out from the back court and keep the ball in play towards Raonic's b/h which he wasn't able to do. His UFE count was very high for someone who hardly hits any winners.

[prasen9]

Obviously, this match did not go to 3rd set. But, I was talking about the previous one he lost in 3 sets. I guess this year his record is 2-2 in 3 setters.

[Dinesh]

Raonic gave a walkover in his R2 match.

[prasen9]

It wouldn't do much good except that he would be beaten by Rune. I suppose he would have gotten some more money and a win. But, really, if he could not figure out how to make a guy run and tire him out and get beaten by a washed out guy, albeit with a huge serve, then so be it. He will earn some points the right way by defeating people soon, I think.

[Atithee]

Sumit has now replaced Somdev as the favorite top 100 opponent on the ATP tour.