India No.1 Sumit Nagal started off his campaign at the ATP Tampere Challenger in grand fashion, beating Czech player Jiri Vesely 6-4 6-1. Vesely recently took Stefanos Tsitsipas to 4 sets at Roland Garros, and remains the only player to have beaten Novak Djokovic twice without having lost to him.
Nagal spoke to the tournament media team after the match to share his thoughts –
Interview conducted by Tampere Open team
Q) It was a tricky opening match but a good win for you. How would you describe it?
SN – He (Vesely) is a great player. Pretty much everyone in Tennis knows who Jiri Vesely is. I think what I did on court was the points that I needed to win, I won them. The service games that I need to hold, I held. To be honest, the break points went my way, but I will not complain about that (laughs). Very happy with the win.
Q) Gamewise, are you satisfied?
SN – More or less satisfied. It’s very tough to come out of matches and say I feel a 100% satisfied. It only happens with very few players in very few matches in the year. Today was not the day I could say I was 100% satisfied. But I am very happy with the way I did rest of the things, except say hitting the ball.
Q) Two months ago you won your 3rd ATP Challenger title (in Rome). Congrats on that. How do you feel on court and how’s your confidence level?
SN – It’s been good. I didn’t play the last few weeks, but before that I had another semi-final in a Challenger. I always say this – the more I play the better I feel. Having not played too much in the last 2-3 years because of covid, then injury, stopped me in the way. Now if I am healthy and have an opportunity to play a tournament, I cannot ask for more than this.
