India's No.1 Tennis player Sumit Nagal tried his hands at batting in the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) nets ahead of his second round match at Australian Open 2024.
Recently, Nagal grabbed headlines after becoming the first Indian player to make it to second round of the Australian Open by defeating Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan in the opening round of the men's singles at Melbourne Park. Also, the 26-year-old is the first Indian player since 1989 to defeat a seeded player in the main draw of a Grand Slam.
Following his historic victory at Australian Open, Sumit Nagal paid a visit to iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground. In a video shared by Aus Open on its X handle (formerly Twitter), Nagal can be seen padding up and batting in the nets.
“I haven’t played in years and years. And this is probably the first time I am playing padded up. So fingers crossed,” India's No.1 tennis player said in a video shared by Australian Open on X.
Sumit Nagal revealed that he invested a lot of time in cricket by playing on the streets, adding it is a dream come true to visit iconic MCG.
"I think it’s a privilege for every Indian to go through this. Playing cricket as a youngster, I have invested a lot of hours into cricket, playing on the streets. To see one of the biggest stadiums in the world, it’s a very nice feeling. Even though this moment didn’t come through playing cricket (for India), I’m very happy to live this moment right now,” he said.
Sumit Nagal's Australian Open campaign ends in 2nd Round
Sumit Nagal's dream run at the Australian Open came to an end after losing Chinese opponent, Jungcheng Shang in the second round on Thursday, January 18.
Nagal took a first set lead but went down fighting against Shang in four-set thriller at Melbourne Park. Shang made it to third round in his Australian Open by defeating Nagal in four sets - 2-6 6-3 7-5 6-4.
Sumit Nagal registered joint-best finish in his Grand Slam career. He reached 2nd round of the men's singles at US Open in 2020.
After finishing his campaign with round 2 defeat, Nagal will return with a cheque of AUS$ 180,000 (INR 98.27 lakhs), which is more than what we had in his bank just few months ago.
