Staying fit and breaking into top-100 Sumit Nagal’s focus

Chennai: Ace Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal on Tuesday said staying fit and breaking into top-100 in world rankings will be his focus ahead of the Paris Olympics later this year.

The 26-year-old from Haryana has had his share of brushes with injuries in the past, having missed qualifying for the 2018 US Open due to an injury.

In 2021, he suffered a hip injury before undergoing surgery in November of that year.

“Staying fit would be the highest priority. The second (goal) would be to play in the Olympics, which would be a nice feeling. But for that, you need to be within the top 100,” Nagal responded to a PTI query in an interaction during the ongoing Chennai Open ATP Challenger event, where he is through to the pre-quarterfinals.

Currently ranked 121 in the ATP singles, Nagal is confident of breaking into the top 100.

“It (Olympic qualification) would only be possible if I keep winning the matches. I have to focus on upcoming matches and not wonder about what’s going to happen in the next five months because tennis is a very unpredictable sport where anything can happen. I like to focus day-by-day and keep short goals and tunnel vision than to keep a large picture.”

He drew eyeballs after making it to the main draw of the Australian Open last month.