Tennis star Sumit Nagal: No one is supporting me monetarily

With his fearless approach, Sumit Nagal impressed iconic Roger Federer at US Open and n took it forward by making two finals on Challenger circuit, but youngster is flabbergasted that people are just "walking away" when he needs support. 22-year-old won Bues Aires Challenger on Sunday night and jumped to a career-best rank of 135. 26-place jump has consolidated his status as India's number two singles player behind Prajnesh Gunneswaran (84).

However, paucity of funds meant that neir he h his coach by his side r physio, who could help him recover from grueling matches on red dirt in Argentinian city. "I was all alone here. one was with me to help out. One way, it has been great that I have been playing good tennis but it's t easy to do it and I'm really s," Nagal told PTI from Bues Aires. " path is lonely despite doing well at US Open. I qualified at 22 and led a set against Roger Federer but it still has t me an impact anywhere. It's really s body is coming up to invest in tennis," he ded.

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Nagal figured in government's Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), receiving financial support for some time but was later dropped. scheme offers a monthly financial aid of Rs 50,000 to athletes who are medal prospects at Olympics. As of w, only doubles specialists Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan are getting support through TOPS and ne of country's singles tennis players are a beneficiary. 

Bhupathi's comment on Nagal

Multiple Grand Slam title winner Mahesh Bhupathi, who mentored Nagal after hand-picking him from a tennis clinic, said if a player of calibre of Nagal can't get eugh support, n it's a failure of system. "Sumit is obviously a special talent and it shows with what he has done in last six months. When you see talents like him who are t nurtured and supported keeping in mind coming Olympics or next one, I consider it a colossal failure of system," Bhupathi fumed. "n one has right to ask later why India doesn't produce champions," Bhupathi, who won eight Grand Slam trophies, ded. 

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Nagal gets support from Virat Kohli Foundation but it does t cover all expenses that a tennis player needs. "y are providing a good amount but as you can see in tennis you need a team like all top 100 players to have, coach, fitness, physio etc which ds up," said Bhupathi. estimated required annual budget for Nagal is around 220,000 euros (Rs 1.5 crore). Jhajjar-born Nagal said he is surprised that despite zooming up close to top-100, support has t swelled eugh.

"I still have exact budget which I h in 2018 when I was ranked 350. It's that when I needed most which are right w, 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 t coming, he h decided to kck doors of those who kw something about creating champions," Bhupathi ded.

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"Well, only an athlete can understand talent in my opinion. So w I am trying to route it through Gopi (Gopichand) and Malav and hopefully y can vise best way forward," he said. Nagal said people only make promises but when time comes, y look or side. "I am still stuck. I have to find a way to get my coach on tour to help me. Most of tournaments I did in summer were by myself. It's funny how y say if you need any help let us kw and when you actually ask m or write an email y don't even bor replying to you," he said.

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