Sumit Nagal became the first Indian in the US open to win a Grand Slam main draw match in the last seven years, but the second round saw him collapse by 6-3, 6-3,6-2 against the magnanimous World No 2 Dominic Thiem.
The glorious moment became a gif and was widely circulated in social media. Nagal caught a glimpse of the tennis wizard’s secrets but still he has miles to go before he could unravel everything. Arthur Ashe stadium is the testimony of his main draw debut last year against maestro of tennis Roger Federer.
He had won the opening set before losing into 4. Nevertheless the Swiss was overawed by Sumit Nagal’s strikes. Thiem claimed to have seen Sumit Nagal’s match videos to inculcate his skills for the match. Throwing light on this majestic match Thiem says he had to keep up his pace to see through Nagal’s forehand as Nagal is a very swift player.
Nagal with his Herculean forehand puts the ball back in court and ceases only after securing points. But chivalry with Thiem proved to be challenging as the man on the other side of the court is esteemed to be the hardest worker off court, and a resilient hitter on it. Nagal admits Thiem is one step ahead of him. “Bravo”, as Thiem remarked at the end of the match, overwhelmed by the brilliant performance of the Indian tennis player.
It’s not that often that we see an Indian player competing in the of US Open finales against World No 2, but with his profound skills in handling the racket, he broke all the barriers. We are so proud of him.