Sumit Nagal thread

[Rajiv]

Apparently only the second ATP event title on clay by an Indian in Europe that anybody can remember. Ramesh Krishnan won the Stuttgart ATP once.

Prior to Stuttgart , Ramesh also won on Clay , but that was in Asia in Manila, of course the biggest claycourt win apart from Stuttgart was his Junior FO title.

[Rajiv]

Prior to this trophy win , the biggest concern was Sumit being broken at easily at will.
And our fears about his serve have reached him well and he has heard it loud and clear , and this was a marked change I noticed in the string of wins which got him to the title. He(Sumit) was consistently serving away from the target (opponent) and not to the target and wisely swinging it an angle which obviously made the opponent do the extra work and set him up nicely to set the tone for the rally and not get broken frequently as was the case before..

And Ramesh with half the serve speed of Sumit was a delightful and a astute master of placement for his 10mph (as per McEnroe) and putting it in the right areas, one which made him compete with any player in the world. Of course Sumit is not Ramesh , but what I saw in this whole week that he followed the same pattern of Ramesh to overcome the serve issue , and from here onwards he can only improve if he follows Ramesh’s formula of serving and not letting his serve becoming a liability

[arjun2761]

Sorry comparing to Ramesh (or Vijay with his serve and volley) is saying that we should go back to playing hockey like we did in the 1950s. They played in a different era and players with their skill set and fitness today won't do particularly well in today's game which has much faster, fitter, and stronger players. They were great players for their era but playing like Ramesh wouldn't get you far right now. I don't think there is anyone like Ramesh anywhere near the top 100 today and very very few serve and volleyers in top 100 either. I guess you could count someone like Isner in that camp but he is mostly a freaky server than a true serve and volleyer.

Fantastic win by Sumit and this probably ranks among the best challenger wins by an Indian in terms of winning in a tough environment (in Europe on clay). LP and Yuki who won a lot of challengers but often won them in Asia, so this is indeed a rare win for Indians.

Somewhat glad that he isn't playing this week. For someone who is injury prone, a weeks rest is probably good after having played 7 matches in a week.

[arjun2761]

https://indiantennisdaily.com/2022/09/2 ... les-event/

Per the link above done recently, Sumit is now 4th among Indians as far as singles challenger titles won with his 3rd title. Only LP (11), Yuki (7), and Somdev (5) are ahead of him. Challenger singles wins are still pretty rare for Indians especially outside of Asia.

[rajitghosh]

The stats on Ramesh Krishnan are not correct. He won 4 challengers not 2.

[jayakris]

Apparently only the second ATP event title on clay by an Indian in Europe that anybody can remember. Ramesh Krishnan won the Stuttgart ATP once.

Prior to Stuttgart , Ramesh also won on Clay , but that was in Asia in Manila, of course the biggest claycourt win apart from Stuttgart was his Junior FO title.

You are right. I actually meant second on European clay. I knew about the Manila title, and had actually put that in the ITD whatsapp chat this morning. That was one of his early big titles too (1981). He beat Vijay Amritraj in the first round at Manila!

[sameerph]

The stats on Ramesh Krishnan are not correct. He won 4 challengers not 2.

I have updated challenger titles won by Indians in the thread which we have ( although not detailed list)-

All time Indian challlenger wins

Sumit is now fifth behind Leander, Yuki , Somdev and RK.

[jayakris]

A nice interview article by KKumaraswamy in TOI

I am a better player now, says calm and mature Sumit Nagal

Awaiting the Mathausen (Austria) challenger qualifying draw for Sumit this weekend. Since BalaJee are also there, we will discuss it in the European challengers thread.

[jayakris]

I guess Sumit won't be playing next week? I think he is not in the lists anywhere. Is he planning to go sit around at French Open qualies? I doubt he has a chance to make an ALT entry, seeing how high (#224) the qualies closed.

He is in the qualies for Skopje (N.Macedonia) for the week after the next (May 22), and should be the top seed in the qualies. Then in the qualies for Troisdorf (Germany) for May 29th. After that he can skip qualies and be in direct entry list somewhere based on his higher ranking from May 8th. But the three Europe challengers on June 5th (Surbiton on grass and Heilbronn and Prostejov on clay) are all 100+ and he may be squeezing in with his ranking. He will make the entry at the C75 in Tyler, TX (USA) on hardcourts if he wants but I doubt he will fly to the US for just a week or two, as it will be Wimbledon qualies after that.

[sameerph]

I guess Sumit won't be playing next week? I think he is not in the lists anywhere. Is he planning to go sit around at French Open qualies?

French open qualies is week after, not next week. I don't know why Sumit did not sign up anywhere next week.

He is in the qualies for Skopje (N.Macedonia) for the week after the next (May 22), and should be the top seed in the qualies. Then in the qualies for Troisdorf (Germany) for May 29th. After that he can skip qualies and be in direct entry list somewhere based on his higher ranking from May 8th. But the three Europe challengers on June 5th (Surbiton on grass and Heilbronn and Prostejov on clay) are all 100+ and he may be squeezing in with his ranking. He will make the entry at the C75 in Tyler, TX (USA) on hardcourts if he wants but I doubt he will fly to the US for just a week or two, as it will be Wimbledon qualies after that.

These challengers in Europe are so tough. His new ranking was applicable for May 29 week but Sumit is way out from main draw,. I doubt if he will make the main draw in June 5 week too with only these big challengers in that week. Maybe from week of June 12 when there are 4 challengers almost each week in Europe is when he will start making the main draw directly.

[jayakris]

Oh, ok. I was not checking exact dates. Yeah, the timing of his challenger title, not getting an SE from that, and then the one-week delay - all really sucked. It will be useful next year at this time though

Maybe he should go to the much easier Tyler and Puerto Rico challengers in the US on hard courts and get a bunch of points. Not sure if the UK grass challengers are of much use for him, and there is no point on staying with clay at those tough challengers, potentially having to play qualies and all that.

[Omkara]

A break is not necessarily bad. After he won in Argentina, I thought we might see a phase like we saw in Somdev's career. Dominance at lower levels. But this faded and eneded in an injury.

Clay court game, especially the one played by Sumit takes toll on your body. Break is not bad.

[sameerph]

Maybe he should go to the much easier Tyler and Puerto Rico challengers in the US on hard courts and get a bunch of points. Not sure if the UK grass challengers are of much use for him, and there is no point on staying with clay at those tough challengers, potentially having to play qualies and all that.

From what I see ( read in one of the interviews I think) as of now Sumit will prefer to stay closer to his training base which is Germany as then he can go back and train there and his coach can probably travel with him.

So, don't think he will for for US challengers as of now. Will take the tough route of European challengers on clay even though it may mean going thru qualies. From end June and July there are 3-4 challengers every week in Europe. So, he should directly get into main draws than.

[sameerph]

So, Sumit as expected Sumit choses to stay in Europe and has entered 125 challenger in Heilbronn, Germany in 3 weeks time. The cut is so high that Sumit is only 1 out from qualies as of now, should make it in easily in qualies.

So, 3 weeks of challenger qualies for him in Europe in next 3 weeks as of now.

The week after that ( June 12 week) there are 4 challengers in Europe and 3 on clay, there are also 2 ATP tournaments in Europe on grass that week. So, maybe Sumit will get into main draw in that week.

[sameerph]

So, Sumit as expected Sumit choses to stay in Europe and has entered 125 challenger in Heilbronn, Germany in 3 weeks time. The cut is so high that Sumit is only 1 out from qualies as of now, should make it in easily in qualies.

So, 3 weeks of challenger qualies for him in Europe in next 3 weeks as of now.

The week after that ( June 12 week) there are 4 challengers in Europe and 3 on clay, there are also 2 ATP tournaments in Europe on grass that week. So, maybe Sumit will get into main draw in that week.