Sumit Nagal has yet again refused to play for the country in the Davis Cup, putting “unreasonable conditions” for his return even as Sasikumar Mukund on Friday came back to the national squad for the tie against Togo after his suspension was revoked by the AITA Executive Committee. Nagal, who has been struggling on the ATP tour, had pulled out of the tie against Sweden in September citing a back strain. He had also refused to travel to Islamabad for the contest against Pakistan in January-February, saying the grass courts do not suit his style of play.

The All India Tennis Association (AITA) selection panel picked a five-member squad in which Mukund will be the highest-ranked singles player at number 368.

Mukund was serving a suspension and was not part of the tie against Sweden but non-playing captain Rohit Rajpal had a chat with the talented player, who then made himself available for the World Group I Play-off contest on February 1-2 in New Delhi.

“After captain Rajpal spoke with Mukund, his suspension was revoked by the Executive Committee, so he was picked. He is good player and need to be given a chance to wear the India jersey again,” said a source.

It has been learnt that Rajpal, who will continue to lead the Davis Cup team in 2025 season, tried to convince Nagal to return for national duty but he did not respond to the mail in which the players are asked for their availability.

Yuki Bhambri, who had also missed the Sweden tie, has made himself unavailable for the contest.

“I am extremely disappointed with Sumit for not making himself available for this tie. We agreed to all his demands last time also still he has refused national duty which is unacceptable,” Rajpal told PTI.

An AITA source said, “Nagal has put forward some unreasonable demands which can’t be accepted.” Ramkumar Ramanathan (ranked 393) and Karan Singh (473) are the two other singles players in the squad.

In the absence of Bhambri (ranked 48), N Sriram Balaji (65) will lead the doubles team and will most likely partner Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli (72), who got his maiden national team call-up.

Four players — Aryan Shah (592), Manas Dhamne, Dakshineshwar Suresh and Yuvan Nandal — will be called to the training camp and two reserve players will be chosen from among them.

“It was on insistence of Nagal that slow hard courts were chosen for the tie but now he has said he won’t play. If he had made his stance clear, captain Rajpal would have opted for grass courts for this tie,” the AITA source said.

AITA secretary General Anil Dhupar, who continues in the post due to a petition challenging the fresh elections, had accused Nagal of deliberately missing the Pakistan and Sweden ties.

“Captain Rajpal has been nice to the players but it’s time that he takes a strong stand against the players, who disrespect the captain’s chair. Even star players like Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi never disrespected the captain despite having a big stature but the behaviour of today’s generation is disgusting,” said a member of the support staff who did not wish to be named.

The AITA selection committee dropped Siddharth Vishwakarma and Niki Poonacha from the squad.

File photo of Sumit Nagal.© AFP

India’s top singles player Sumit Nagal is set to make his maiden appearance in the men’s singles main draw of the Wimbledon and he will be up against higher-ranked Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia in the first round in London. However, World No. 72 Nagal has a tough road ahead as he is placed in the same section of the draw as top seed and World No. 1 Jannik Sinner and could face the Italian in the third round if he makes it that far.

Even crossing the first hurdle will not be easy for Nagal as he is pitted against world No. 53 Kecmanovic. The Serbian had beaten Nagal in their lone match so far at the ATP 250 event in Cologne, Germany, four years ago.

If Nagal gets past the opening round, he will be up against the winner of the opening round match between Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta, ranked 796 in the world, and world No. 26 Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands.

Olympic-bound Nagal had earlier lost in the first round of men’s singles qualifiers against Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak in 2018.

Nagal is having a dream season so far as he had also qualified for the main draw of the Australian Open earlier this year. He stunned 31st-seeded Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan in the opening round to become the first Indian male tennis player to beat a seeded player in 35 years in a Slam.

The Indian then went on to win the Chennai Open ATP Challenger to enter top-100 in the rankings.

Meanwhile in men’s doubles, veteran Indian Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden, seeded second, will take on French pair Adrian Mannarino and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the first round.

Bopanna and Ebden, the reigning Australian Open champions, had reached the semifinals of last year’s Wimbledon.

Another Indian N Sriram Balaji, who will be Bopanna’s doubles partner at Paris Olympics, and his British partner Luke Johnson will play fourth-seeded Croatian-Salvadorian combination of Mate Pavic and Marcelo Arevalo, who won this year’s French Open.

Yuki Bhambri and his French partner Albano Olivetti will meet Kazakh duo of Bublik and Alexander Shevchenko, while Nagal and Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic will take on Spain’s Pedro Martinez and Jaume Munar in the opening round.

The much-anticipated French Open 2024 tennis tournament gets underway at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France on Monday. The main draw matches at the second grand slam of the year begin on May 26. Sumit Nagal secured his place in the main draw of the men’s singles thanks to his career-high world ranking of 80. He is the first Indian male player to qualify for the French Open main draw since Prajnesh Gunneswaran in 2019.

The 26-year-old Nagal recently stunned world No. 38 Matteo Arnaldi at the Monte Carlo Masters where he became the first Indian tennis player to qualify for the main draw of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in 42 years.

The centre of attention in the men’s singles will be the ‘King of Clay’ Rafael Nadal of Spain and Serbia’s world No. 1 Novak Djokovic. Nadal had missed the French Open last year for the first time since 2004 due to an abdominal muscle tear.

The Spaniard has won a record 14 French Open titles while his Serbian opponent won his record 24th Grand Slam men’s singles title at the French Open last year to get past Nadal. It was Djokovic’s third title victory at the Roland Garros. Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have played many memorable matches at the Roland Garros over the years.

World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain is also expected to be a strong contender. He had made it to the semi-final last year before losing to eventual champion Djokovic.

Former US champion Daniil Medvedev and former Australian Open winner Jannik Sinner are also in the mix along with two-time French Open runners-up and world No. 6 Casper Ruud.

In the men’s doubles, veteran Rohan Bopanna, ranked fourth in the world, and his world No. 3 Matthew Ebden of Australia will be among the title favourites. They are the reigning Australian Open champions and are the second-seeded pair behind Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina.

Yuki Bhambri will partner Albano Olivetti of France while Sumit Nagal will also compete in the men’s doubles along with Sebastian Ofner of Austria. Anirudh Chandrasekar-Arjun Kadhe and Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli-Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha are the two all-Indian pairs in this category.

Action in the women’s singles is expected to be led by world No. 1 and three-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek of Poland.

Swiatek won the French Open in 2022 and 2023 and is arriving at the Roland Garros after winning the Madrid Open earlier this month. However, the likes of Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina are all in contention for the top prize.

Indian tennis players at French Open 2024

Men’s singles: Sumit Nagal

Men’s doubles: Rohan Bopanna-Matthew Ebden (AUS), Yuki Bhambri-Albano Olivetti (FRA), Sumit Nagal-Sebastian Ofner (AUT), Sriram Balaji-Miguel Angel Reyes Varela (MEX), Anirudh Chandrasekar-Arjun Kadhe, Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli-Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha.