BENGALURU: The first two months of the 2025 tennis season has been all uphill for Sumit Nagal, starting in Melbourne in January and then on clay in Rosario and Buenos Aires, laid low by a flu.
The 27-year-old will make a return to tournament play in the ATP Challenger in Murcia next week after staying away from the Tour for about a month.
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Nagal, whose ranking is down to 132, was thrown a curveball by what he suspects was a bout of Covid-19 in January. The Indian, who chose the rigour of the South American swing over the four-week ATP Challenger series in India in February, was caught unawares in Argentina.
“If I knew I was (so) unwell I would never have gone to South America,” Nagal told TOI during a telephone interview. “You’re going so far away, not feeling your best, that makes no sense.”
Nagal, who has spent the last few weeks at his training base in Germany, is gradually working his way back.
“I never really felt good since Australia, it was maybe Covid-19 over there, I wasn’t sure,” the India No.1 said. “When I was in Argentina I was practicing a bit and then I wasn’t really practicing. It wasn’t a great few weeks for me. I was struggling so much with my health, I was fatigued, I was barely practicing. And when I practiced or played I would feel super tired.”
“It has been good in the last two weeks. I have been practicing quite a bit, pushing a bit,” said Nagal, who marked his fitness at eight on a scale of 1 to 10.
Nagal, who climbed to a career-high No.68 in the ranking last July, is now chasing a main draw berth at Roland Garros. He’s scheduled to play two ATP Challengers, followed by Monte Carlo Masters 1000, where he went through qualifiers last year to make the round of 32, after which the Indian will look at 250 Series tournaments.
While there are nine Indians in the top-150 of the doubles rankings, Nagal is the only Indian in the top-250 of the singles rankings on the men’s and women’s tours.
