Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal said on Friday that he is aiming to make it to the top 100 in the ATP rankings and after that he would like to reach the top 80 in a campaign to win the Olympic spot.
Talking to the media on the sidelines of a high performance tennis program launch Nagal said,”As I said, first I would like to make it to the top 100 and then to the top 80 so that I can make it to the Olympics.” Nagal is currently ranked 130 in the ATP rankings and is currently training for the 2020 season at the Aspire Foundation Center on the IIT-Madras campus. Nagal had a great season in which he qualified for the main draw of the US Open and then won a set against legendary player Roger Federer.
Asked what Federer told him after the match in New York, he said, “He didn’t say much that day. He wished me all the best. I heard that he spoke good things about me in the media.”
Nagal was ranked 340 at the end of 2018 but managed to reach 130 after performing well in the year. He said, “The biggest thing for me this season was to be free from injuries. Every year for the last four five years, I used to play only seven to eight months. It was the first time in the last five years that I played a full season without being injured. I did stretch my ankle in the summer, other than that my body was fine. Now there is no injury.”
Talking about the huge positive impact of the team of support staff he has now: “It’s not easy to work with the people you want to. There are a lot of things involved. Bringing together a team that’s in sync with each other is one of the hardest things to do.”
