Sumit Nagal capitalises on clay and consistency to be on Olympic cusp, but needs to step up to get to next level
During a year which saw Sumit Nagal, India’s top-ranked singles tennis player, surge up the rankings, make the main draws of Grand Slams and sustain the momentum by staying relatively fit, his friend and part-time coach Somdev Devvarman feels the younger player may go past him as far as a personal milestone is concerned.
“Rankings are timing-based. A lot of it is luck and how often you can keep yourself injury-free. I actually thought Sumit was ready to overtake my (highest) ranking this year, but after Monte Carlo (in April), he had to pull out of a few events again and got unlucky,” Devvarman told The Indian Express last month.
After two remarkable weeks on the clay courts of Germany and Italy, Nagal is not too far away from that feat.
On Monday, the 27-year-old jumped six spots in th...