Hyderabad: India's star tennis player Sumit Nagal has secured a direct entry into the main draw of the highly anticipated upcoming Australian Open 2025 in the men's single category. This will be Nagal's third Australian Open.
Nagal had won all three matches in the Qualifiers and then registered a historic victory over 31st seed Alexander Bublik in the first round of the Australian Open 2024 after the All India Tennis Association (AITA) denied Nagal a wildcard entry last year.
It’s official: #AO2025 entry lists have just dropped 🤩https://t.co/2YIf4ucd8t
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) December 6, 2024
The win against Alexander Bublik made him the youngster who became the first Indian in 35 years to beat a seeded player in any Grand Slam after Ramesh Krishnan beat Mats Wilander at the 1989 Australian Open.
However, Nagal failed to advance to the next round after defeating China's Shang Juncheng. He still carried on his decent form and became the 10th player from India to break into the top 100 of the ATP rankings. At one time, on July 16, 2024, Nagal was ranked 68 in the ATP rankings, the fourth highest-ranked Indian man in the history of the ATP rankings.
This marks Nagal's fifth direct entry into a Grand Slam main draw and his eighth overall appearance, having competed in all four Grand Slam events in 2024. His best results at a Grand Slam event came this year, as he reached the second round at both the Australian Open and the US Open.
Currently, ranked No.98 in the world, Nagal must be eyeing to go a couple of steps forward and do something a rare bunch of players have done on the hard-court tournament.
