Sumit Nagal bowed out to in-form Pedro Cachin in the first round of qualifying at the French Open. Nagal, who is making a comeback from a hip injury, is still trying to get back to his old, pre-injury form. Nagal spoke to us about the match, his recovery, and other things in a small interview. Excerpts below:
Q) Your thoughts on the match
It was a tough match. I’m not sure if you know, I’m coming from a surgery. I haven’t played much in the last six, seven months. So just finding my rhythm has not been easy. For me, I feel like I need to have matches under my belt.
It was a tough day, tough opponent. I was playing a guy who’s won the last 2 out of 3 Challenger events he’s played. There were some points, especially in the 2nd set, where I think I rushed a little too much. Did too much or too less with the ball sometimes. But it is what it is. It’s Tennis, week in week out. I will get back to training again and will try to get my rhythm back.
Q) Had you played Pedro Cachin before this match?
I have played him once before in 2018. I think he won in three sets, 6-4 in the third. He’s definitely a great player and has been doing well recently
Q) You’ve played at Roland Garros 3 or 4 times now, but haven’t done as well as you would have expected to. Any thoughts on that?
I know. But never done well to be honest. I don’t really have an answer. It has always been something or the other. You can say a little bad of luck maybe. But it is what it is.
Q) You had Somdev travelling with you in the US earlier this year. And now you have your fitness trainer Milos Galecic with you. How does it feel to have them around?
I mean all these guys know each other very well. So it’s not complicated. You know, Milos was Som’s fitness trainer for all of his career and now having Somdev involved also is nice.
Q) What does your schedule look like from now on?
I don’t know yet. I will need to see how I recover. No matter how fit you are outside the court, it’s different when you’re on your court. Your body is under pressure on the court, so your muscles react differently under stress. Being gym fit is different from being match fit. Your body needs to get used to playing matches day in day out, which is what I’m striving for currently.
Photos from Sumit Nagal’s Round 1 match –
