India's top-ranked male tennis player has received a Chinese visa for an Australian Open wild-card playoff tournament beginning Nov. 24 in Chengdu after first being denied one.
Sumit Nagal took to social media on Tuesday to ask the Chinese ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, and the Chinese embassy to intervene on his behalf.
In a second social media post late Thursday, Nagal thanked the Chinese ambassador, India's ministry of external affairs, among others, for receiving the visa.
“A big thank you . . . for their prompt help in helping me secure the visa in time,” Nagal wrote.
In his original post, Nagal said "my visa was rejected without reason. Your urgent help would be much appreciated.”
Nagal gave no indication in his second post as to why his original visa request visa was denied.
One of the 28-year-old Nagal's career highlights was taking the opening set of a U.S. Open match against Roger Federer in 2019. But Federer won the next three sets to advance to the second round.
Nagal had a career-high singles ranking of 68 in July 2024 but his current ranking is 290. He has been a member of India's Davis Cup team since 2018.
In January, he lost in the first round at the Australian Open and failed to make it through qualifying for the French Open and Wimbledon. He won the 2015 Wimbledon boys' doubles title with Vietnam's Ly Hoang Nam, becoming the sixth Indian player to win a junior Grand Slam title.
The Australian Open's Asia-Pacific wild-card playoff is scheduled for Nov. 24-29 at the Sichuan International Tennis Centre. It's a 16-player men’s and women’s singles event and 12 teams in men’s and women’s doubles.
The 2026 Australian Open, the first Grand Slam event of the year, begins Jan. 18 in Melbourne.
___
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
