The year’s first slam Australian Open 2025 will take place in Melbourne Park from January 6 to 26.
Tennis Australia on December 6, 2024, announced the entry list for the Australian Open 2025, where Indian men’s single top tennis player Sumit Nagal, currently ranked 98th, secured automatic qualification for the main draw.
It is going to be Nagal’s third appearance in the Australian Open main draw, his fifth direct entry into Grand Slam main rounds, and his eighth overall.
Last year, Nagal, currently ranked 98, had to go through the qualifying rounds in Melbourne. He shocked 31st-seeded Kazakh Alexander Bublik in the first round becoming the first Indian player to beat a seeded player in the main draw in singles at Grand Slam in 34 years. He although lost to Chinese wildcard Juncheng Shang in the second round.
He previously directly competed in the main round of Australian Open in 2021 but lost to Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis.
The year 2024 has been a prime year for Sumit Nagal’s career:-
- He won the ATP Chennai Challenger title in February.
- He won the ATP Challenger Heilbronner Neckarcup title in June.
- He achieved a career-high world ranking of 68 in men’s singles in July 2024.
- In December, he secured a spot in the main draw list of the Australian Open 2025.
Sumit nagal expressed his feelings after finishing in the top 100 at the end of the year.
Ending my first year as a Top 100 player feels incredibly special. This year has been full of firsts, and I’m deeply grateful for all your support from India and around the world. A huge thank you to my coaching team at Nensel Academy, and my friends and family who’ve stood by me through thick and thin
Taking all the learnings from this season as fuel to keep improving. Bring on 2025!
From Sumit Nagal’s X handle..
In 2024 , Sumit Nagal made history by playing in all the slams of the year, he played some close matches and showed powerful resilience and determination throughout the all slams and his best performance was in the Australian Open.
He reached the 2nd round of the slam. After winning 3 qualifying rounds, he reached the 1st round, where Sumit defeated 31st ranked Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan.
After 35 years of long wait an Indian tennis player defeated a seeded player in the slam.
The last instance happened in 1989, when Ramesh Krishnan defeated the world rank 1 and previous year’s AO champion player Mats Wilander.
In 2025 Sumit Nagal is eyeing to play better than last time and achieving more milestones.
Written By Chiya
