New Delhi: India’s Sumit Nagal bowed out of the Wimbledon men’s singles event after losing to Miomir Kecmanović of Serbia in the first round at Wimbledon 2024. The former boys’ doubles Wimbledon champion was outclassed by Kecmanović 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6 with the game lasting 2 hours and 48 minutes at the SW19. Nagal, who was making his Wimbledon debut, put up a brave fight before getting defeated in the opening round.
Paris Olympics qualified Nagal was brilliant at times but had to pay the price for his inconsistency in the opening round of the grass-court Grand Slam. He went down 2-6 in the opening round against the 56th-ranked Serbian and fought back well to win the second set 6-3. Nagal showed some clean hits and also covered the court well which sparked hopes of him coming from behind. However, Kecmanović made it 2-1 and put the pressure back on the top-ranked Indian singles star.
Nagal struggles on grass surface
The Jhajjar lad was down 1-5 in the final set but did not throw in the towel straightaway. He broke back, battled hard to stay in the game, and got just a game away from levelling the scores. The Serbian star however held on to his nerves and got the job done in four sets. Nagal had his say on the difficulty of playing on grass surface which is not his favourite despite the Wimbledon boys’ doubles win nine years ago.
He had notably arrived early in London to train for the opening round after having an extended season swinging it on the clay court. Nagal’s inexperience on the surface was quite evident as the 26-year-old missed opportunities to gain control of the game. Nagal is out of contention in men’s singles but will be in action in the doubles category, partnering with Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic. Both will open their campaign against the Spanish duo of Pedro Martinez and Jaume Munar in the men’s doubles first round.
Sumit Nagal, who was making his debut at the All England Club Championships, went down against higher-ranked Miomir Kecmanović in he first round of men’s singles to end his maiden main draw appearance. Tennis Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
