Short on prep time, Sumit Nagal wants to enjoy Australian Open

A shortened pre-season, a fortnight in quarantine with a daily five-hour training window and one hour of game time in over three months—that is Sumit Nagal’s preparation heading into the 2021 Australian Open beginning next week.

The solitary competitive match on Monday was Nagal’s first since October, the 139th-ranked Indian losing to world No. 72 Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania 6-2, 6-2 in the ATP 250 Murray River Open held in the lead-up to the Grand Slam event beginning on February 8.

In usual circumstances, players in Nagal’s ranking bracket either have a couple of tournaments on the ATP Challenger Tour to begin the season or at least three qualifying matches under their belt before earning a spot at the season’s first Slam. But with the 23-year-old Indian receiving a wild card for the Australian Open main draw and all participants having to arrive early in Melbourne for the mandatory 14-day quarantine, Nagal has had neither. And while the pandemic-hit 2020 season stretched till late November, Nagal had to shut shop in the last week of October due to a shoulder injury.

“It’s a similar situation for everyone. But for me, I would’ve liked to have played some more tournaments,” Nagal said in a media interaction on Tuesday. “But unfortunately I had to end my last season a month earlier. Then I tried coming back but I wasn’t ready. That was the sad part. But there’s nothing I can change. I’m just training as much as possible and trying to get better every day so that I can be ready for the Australian Open.”

Nagal had some positive results after the resumption of the professional tour last August. He made the quarter-finals of the ATP Prague Challenger and then became the first Indian to enter the second round of the US Open in seven years, losing 3-6, 3-6, 2-6 to eventual champion Dominic Thiem in September. However, a shoulder issue forced him to retire from the first round of the ATP Challenger in Hamburg a month later. The recovery took longer than expected.

“I didn’t have too many weeks due to my injury in November. When I started doing my pre-season I wasn’t feeling great. So I took some more time. Whatever (training) I did in the last few weeks is all I have. I’m trying to use that time as much as possible and trying to get back on track. It’s not easy,” said Nagal.

The Indian thus wasn’t too cross about his straight-set defeat against the experienced Berankis. “It was a tough loss, but to be honest, I didn’t feel too bad about it. I was just really happy to be back on the court,” he said.

It’s with this attitude that Nagal will head to Melbourne Park next week. “I’m looking to just feel great on the court, get my body right and sync my tennis into it. I want to play a good match. I’m not looking at rounds. I want to be out there, enjoy and try to play my best tennis possible,” he said.

The draws so far haven’t been too kind to him either. In the two Grand Slam main draws that he has played so far, Nagal has run into the then world No. 3s—Roger Federer in the first round of the 2019 US Open and Thiem in the second round on the same court a year later. But Nagal isn’t shying away from another tough draw come Thursday. “I was talking about this to my coach, and I have a feeling that I’m going play someone in the top-10. It’s just my gut feeling,” he said.