Sumit Nagal, India’s top-ranked men’s singles player, has been handed an extremely difficult first-round clash at the French Open 2024. Placed in the second quarter of the draw, Nagal will face Karen Khachanov, who’s the 18th seed at Roland Garros. The Russian has an incredible record in Paris and made the quarterfinal last year, losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in four sets.
Tough challenge awaits Sumit Nagal
In what will be Sumit Nagal’s first appearance at the French Open, he’s going to face someone who has a 21-7 record and has made the fourth round four times and the quarterfinals twice. What makes matters worse are the injury and form issues Nagal has been facing since his loss to Holger Rune at the Monte Carlo Masters.
Having missed the Madrid and Rome Masters, Nagal returned to action earlier this month at the Bordeaux Challenger but lost in the first round to Harold Mayot. He then went to participate in the Geneva Open but fell to the fifth seed, Sebastien Baez, there. However, that loss didn’t turn out to be the worst thing, as he practiced with Novak Djokovic just after and got some reps in.
The 94th-ranked player has been at his best since the start of the year. He beat Alexander Bublik on his way to the second round at the Australian Open and then won the Chennai Challenger. Since then, he’s had a hit-and-miss season but still reached his career-high rank of 80 on April 15.
Sumit Nagal’s clay results in 2024
Nagal has a 2-3 record on clay this year, 2-4 if we include his Bordeaux Challenger result. But three of these results have come against players ranked much higher than him (Baez, Rune, and Lorenzo Sonego). His only bad loss (Mayot) came in the first tournament he played after returning from injury.
- Grand Prix Hassan II (2nd round exit)
- Monte Carlo Masters (2nd round exit)
- Bordeaux Challenger (1st round exit)
- Geneva Open (1st round exit)
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