Junior standout Nagal sets sights higher

August 26, 2015 12:13 am | Updated March 29, 2016 05:25 pm IST - Chennai:

Tackling visa issues and arriving in London at the eleventh hour for the Wimbledon junior singles event and that too without match practice on grass was hardly ideal preparation for playing in the sport’s biggest arena.

A first-round exit was hence hardly a shocking result for Sumit Nagal, but within a fortnight he had changed things around by winning the boys’ doubles event with his Vietnamese partner Nam Hoang Ly.

The Delhi lad was handpicked by Mahesh Bhupathi seven years ago, and has since then lived away from home to play tennis in Europe and across the Atlantic. He turned 18 just 10 days back, and the real test for him starts now as he enters the bigger stage.

Nagal, who is in the city to play in the ITF Futures tournament, has already set his sights on competing with the big boys.

“I am only the sixth Indian to win a Grand Slam event in juniors, but it is just a small piece of the cake,” said Nagal, reflecting on his Wimbledon triumph.

“It makes you aware of your abilities and the opportunities available out there.”

For the past 14 months, Nagal has been training at the Schuttler-Waske Tennis University, Frankfurt, where he works with a team of coaches.

It was the Academy’s Argentine coach Mariano Delfino who urged Nagal to participate in the boys’ doubles. “We reached there only on the starting day of the tournament because of visa issues and knew it was going to be tough.

“So we felt that playing the doubles would help focus on areas like serve, approach shots and volleys,” Nagal said.

Nagal is playing doubles with Delfino, who travels with him to tournaments, in the ongoing Futures event, a move that will help his coach point out mistakes and correct them on the spot.

“The first thing I liked was that he was a fighter and ready to work hard,” said Delfino, speaking about Nagal’s progress during the period that he has worked with him.

“While he was hitting good, there was no order in his game. My first task was to bring order to his game.

“He had a problem with his shoulder and we worked on it. Then, slowly, we started to change a bit here and a bit there, with his forehand and backhand. With the shoulder problem solved, he is also serving big now.”

Delfino added the focus will now be on playing in the main draw of Challenger events and on the ATP tour while taking part in Futures tournaments sparingly.

Speaking of his targets for the next year, Nagal, who is ranked 749, wants to break into the top-300 at the earliest and make the top-250 by May so that he can become eligible for playing in the qualifying events of the Grand Slams.

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