Nagal set to win successive Oly berth but could be without a coach

Pune: Sumit Nagal’s joy of representing India at the Olympics for the second successive time has been somewhat dampened by the probabliility of not having his personal coach Milos Galecic by his side in Paris.
As per IOC norms, the number of support staff cannot exceed one-third of the number of athletes from a country in each discipline. With the doubles team of Rohan Bopanna and Sriram Balaji having a coach (Balachandran Manikkath) and a physiotherapist (Rebecca Van Orshaegen), it rules out another coach for the tennis contingent.
“Sumit’s request is absolutely right. But the issue is the timing,” Anil Dhupar, honorary secretary of the All India Tennis Federation, said on Saturday. “Rohan’s participation was more or less confirmed way back, so we had given his name and his partner as well as his choice of coach and physio in the long list six months ago.
“Sumit was ranked 125 then but his name was given based on the high probability of him qualifying.
“His request for a coach has come now, we will forward it to the IOA because they decide on this. Although there is a 33 per cent rule, we can ask them as a special case. But it is entirely up to the IOA.”
Nevertheless, Nagal was excited about competing in Paris.
Having lost in the first round in singles, he withdrew from doubles at the French Open in order to play in the ATP Challenger 125 event in Heilbronn, Germany, coinciding with the second week of the clay court major. And he made it count by winning the title — which pushed his ranking from 94 to 77 and sealed his entry for Paris.
He followed it up with a runner-up finish in Perugia, Italy, last week, further improving his ranking to 71.
“Heilbronn was the last week of the Challenger. I was very nervous. I was fighting quite hard because I kind of knew this was my only chance to make the Olympic cut,” Nagal told TOI on Saturday. “I needed to win (the title). And I’m proud that I was able to do it. Especially, I was a break down in the third set in my first round against (Nikoloz) Basilashvili, but I’m very happy that I could turn that match (around) and was able to win the tournament.
“Of course, it’s a proud moment to represent India again at the Olympics, to be the only singles player to do it the last two times.
“The process has been good. I have always spoken highly about keeping improving on and off the court, and I feel like the development has been going well from the past few months.”
In Tokyo 2021, playing with a protected ranking, Nagal beat Denis Istomin in the first round before losing to Daniil Medvedev in the second. He will fancy his chances better on the red clay of Roland Garros this time around.
“Nice that it is going to happen there. So I’m really looking forward to being out there and playing in July. I wonder how it (the surface) will play in July, because we have never played in Paris at that time of the year, but I think my game will really suit the conditions,” he said.
Nagal will next play in Wimbledon before tuning up for the Olympics with two clay-court events.