Sumit Nagal
became the first Indian in seven years to win a Grand Slam round when he beat American
Bradley Klahn in the opening round of the US Open.

In last
year’s edition of the tournament, Nagal made history, becoming only the fourth
player in US Open history to take the opening set off Roger Federer. Any hopes
of an upset, however, were quickly dashed by the Swiss maestro, who went on to
win 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.

On his
return to the Flushing Meadows, Nagal dispatched Khlan with a 6-1, 6-3, 3-6,
6-1 win in two hours and 12 minutes on Tuesday night.

“I
qualified for a junior Slam in 2013 here and then the men’s and now to win my
first round here means a lot. I enjoy playing here and it has worked out in my
favour few times,” Nagal told PTI.

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“It was not
easy to walk inside the court knowing this match is more in your favour. I was
definitely nervous and especially playing for my first slam win but I did the
things I was supposed to and kept my composure.”

That win
has set up a second-round fixture with world number three Austrian Dominic Thiem.
However, Nagal is a fighter and remains unfazed by the prospect of coming up
against superior opponents.

“I am ready
and excited to play him. It’s going to be fun and (I will) see where I stand in
terms of my tennis level,” Nagal said.

Nagal seems
to have made the switch from clay to hard courts quite seamlessly. He played on
the red clay courts of the Prague Open, where he qualified for the
quarterfinals, in the build-up to the US Open.

“Courts
here are nice and bouncy. I mean it is a little fast this year but last year it
was nice. I think it’s not even about adapting anymore. It’s just about
match-ups and how your game works on different type of surfaces,” he said.

Somdev
Devavarman was the last Indian to win a singles match in a Grand Slam. He beat
Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko in the 2013 US Open.

He played
in second round matches of the Australian Open, French Open and the US Open in
2013, while also progressing to the second round of the Wimbledon in 2011.

Players like
Yuki Bhambri, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Prajnesh Gunneswaran were the beacon for
Indian tennis after Devavarman, who retired in 2017. However, none of those
three recorded a win in the main draw.

While
Bhambri participated in all majors between 2015 and 2018, he never won a round.
Ramkumar, on the other hand, did not even qualify for a main draw. Saketh Myeni
also qualified for the US Open singles in 2016, but lost to Czech Republic’s
Jiri Vesely.

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Nagal said
Indian tennis should be more prominent on the world stage, partly blaming the “system”
for stifling the growth of the sport in the country.

“In one
way, yes (happy for major win) but in another way, we could do so much better.
We have so many people playing this sport, we have great talent but no system,
which makes me feel sad,” Nagal said.

Born in
Jhajjar, Haryana, Nagal became one of six Indians to win a junior Grand Slam
title when he won the Wimbledon boys’ doubles in 2015 with his Vietnamese
teammate Lý Hoàng Nam.