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Speaking exclusively on Star Sports, Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal talked about his experience of playing at Wimbledon this year. He said, "It was a great experience. This is my first main draw at Wimbledon, and playing on the grass surface is not easy; you need a bit of experience. But I think I did whatever I could, I fought hard. I felt like I could have served better, and there were a few things here and there in the match I could have done better. Obviously, when you play for three, three and a half hours, you always feel like, 'this could have been done or that could have been done.' But like I said, if I could have changed things in the third set, I would have really liked that. Later on in the third set, the momentum was kind of shifting towards me. I think, like I said, if I could have broken him at 5-3, him serving, I think the match could have changed in a funny way."
Talking about his ambitions and what's next for him, Sumit said, "I keep on climbing the rankings. There are a few goals that I need to finish, and that will be one of them—to keep on climbing the rankings. Now, I'm going back on clay to get ready for Paris. I'm looking forward to it; it's going to be my second Olympics, and I'm super, super excited for it."
Speaking exclusively to Star Sports, former Indian tennis legend Mahesh Bhupathi shared his thoughts on Sumit Nagal's performance and exit from Wimbledon 2024. He said, "Obviously, everyone's disappointed, but he's had a breakthrough year, he's played high-quality tennis. That guy's a good player and he had his chances there in the third set and that's the way it is. In events like this, you've got to take your chances, otherwise, you're going to come out on the losing end."
Speaking exclusively to Star Sports, India's Davis Cup coach, Zeeshan Ali, shared his thoughts on Sumit Nagal's performance. He said, "Definitely a tough loss for him today, especially because he was playing on a grass surface, which is not a favored surface. I mean, I would think that grass is probably the least preferred surface and then, playing a player like the one he did today, who hits the ball as hard as he was, it was obviously going to be a tough match. But on the other hand, I feel that Sumit should not be very disheartened by this loss today because he played a very good match. He played an incredibly good second set and he had a lot of chances. Going forward, I think he definitely needs to prepare better to play in a tournament like Wimbledon, maybe get a couple of matches in before the main draw of Wimbledon starts, and that would definitely help him prepare better. But definitely, I think having watched Sumit play for the last five, six years, having been the coach of the Davis Cup team and having Sumit on the reserve of the team to where he is today, obviously a huge, huge improvement in the way he plays. Physically, he's a lot stronger now than he was before, he's hitting the ball a lot better, he's moving better and, and that's what's the reason why he's had this amazing breakthrough year this year, which has seen him climb to 71 in the world ranking. So, it's all about going out there and doing the things that he needs to do when you're playing a Grand Slam, and we definitely think that he has the capability to do better on a grass court event than he did this year."
(Inputs from Press Release)
