New Delhi: Sumit Nagal failed to qualify for the men’s singles draw of the French Open after a straight sets defeat in the second round of the qualifying round on Wednesday.
At 170, Nagal is the top-ranked India in singles, yet he went down 2-6 4-6 to Jurij Rodionov, an opponent 55th slots below him in the ATP rankings.
Nagal lost to his Austrian opponent in one hour and 29 minutes at the Roland Garros after beating USA’s Mitchell Krueger in the first round and is set to be out of action in the singles of Grand Slam after competing in all four of them last year.
Nagal surrendered the first set cheaply and trailed 2-4 in the second before breaking back in the seventh game to level up at 4-4. But he lost the 10th while serving to stay in the match to exit the tournament.
New coach for Djokovic
Record 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic has announced a new coaching set-up, a week after splitting with coach Andy Murray.
Djokovic said he would begin working with two familiar faces: Dusan Vemic and Boris Bosnjakovic from the Geneva Open.
“Dusan Vemic, who is actually [the Serbian Billie Jean King] Cup captain — but he was part of my coaching team years ago with Marian — he’s here, so he’s going to be here with me in Geneva and Roland Garros,” Djokovic said at his pre-tournament media interaction.
“And Boris Bosnjakovic, who is my assistant coach and analyst as well, so they’re both going to kind of share that role for the next couple tournaments and then we’ll see.”
Former rival on the tour Murray joined hands with Djokovic in November last year and the arrangement showed encouraging signs as he beat Carlos Alcaraz at the Australian Open in January.
BUt Djokovic couldn’t win in Melbourne Park and Djokovic later disclosed that Murray didn’t have long-term coaching plans at the moment.
“I don’t have any rush to choose whether I’m going to have someone or not, I don’t know. I don’t know at this moment. I’m fine with these guys and I’m happy the way it is and then we’ll see after Paris,” Djokovic said.
The Serb is seeded second in Geneva and will aim to win his 100th tour-level title when he begins campaign against Marton Fucsovics.
The 170-ranked Sumit Nagal went down 2-6 4-6 to Jurij Rodionov, an opponent positioned 55th slots below him in the ATP rankings. Tennis Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
