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Indian sensation Sumit Nagal recently lifted a Challenger Title in Argentina and though he is steadily rising the ranks, he is left thoroughly disappointed that no-one is coming out to support him. Placed at a career best ranking of No.135 in the World, Nagal is now the second highest ranked Indian on the ATP Charts after Prajnesh Gunneswaran (84).
This, however did not left him travel with his coach and physio, who could help him recover physically. "I was all alone here. No one was with me to help out. One way, it has been great that I have been playing good tennis but it's not easy to do it and I'm really sad," Nagal told PTI from Buones Aires.
"The path is lonely despite doing well at the US Open. I qualified at 22 and led a set against Roger Federer but it still has not made impact anywhere. It's really sad nobody is coming up to invest into tennis," he added. Nagal further assessed a situation where he was surprised to know that though he is inching closer to a coveted Top-100 ranking, he is still not getting any support.
"I still have the exact budget which I had in 2018 when I was ranked 350. It's that when I needed the most which is right now, I see people turning around and walking away. Bhupathi is well-connected and has been trying hard to get sponsors on board.
But with corporate support not coming, he had decided to knock the doors of those who know something about creating champions”. "Well only an athlete can understand talent in my opinion. So now I am trying to route it through Gopi (Gopichand) and Malav and hopefully they can advise the best way forward," he said.
He then said that people have made false promises to him and when the need actually came, they backed out. "I am still stuck. I have to find a way to get my coach on tour to help me. Most of the tournaments I did in summer was by myself.
It's funny how they say if you need any help let us know and when you actually ask them or write an email they don't even bother replying to you," he said.