Sumit Nagal out in opening round of men’s singles

Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal was ousted in the first round of the Wimbledon 2024 Grand Slam tournament by Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic.

Playing his first-ever Wimbledon main draw match, the Indian tennis player stretched the match to four sets before going down 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6. The 72nd-ranked Nagal’s challenge against Kecmanovic, 53rd in world tennis rankings, lasted two hours and 38 minutes.

Nagal also became the first Indian men’s singles player to contest in the Wimbledon main draw in five years. Prajnesh Gunneswaran, who featured in 2019, had also exited in the first round.

In Monday’s match, Nagal made 44 unforced errors on the grass while managing 104 points compared to his opponent’s 122. Kecmanovic, meanwhile, also registered six aces, three more than Nagal, and scored seven break points.

Kecmanovic, 24, registered his second win against the 26-year-old Sumit Nagal. The Serbian had beaten Nagal four years ago at an ATP 250 event in Cologne.

Earlier this year, Nagal made the main draws for the Australian Open, French Open, Indian Wells Masters and Monte Carlo Masters. He also won the Heilbronn Challenger and the Chennai Open ATP Challenger events.

Nagal also became the first Indian male tennis player to beat a seeded player in a Grand Slam, defeating 31st-seeded Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan in straight sets at the Australian Open.

Nagal will now shift his focus to the men’s doubles competition at Wimbledon where he will pair up with Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic. The pair will go up against Pedro Martinez and Jaume Munar of Spain in the opening round.

Three more Indian tennis players will feature in the men’s doubles at Wimbledon 2024.

Indian tennis star Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden are the second-seeded team in the men’s doubles event. The duo will take on France’s Adrian Mannarino and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in their opening match.

N Sriram Balaji, meanwhile, will partner Great Britain’s Luke Johnson and take on French Open champions Mate Pavic and Marcelo Arevalo in the opening round. Yuki Bhambri and Frenchman Albano Olivetti will face Alexander Bublik and Alexander Shevchenko of Kazakhstan.