Barely two days after sneaking a flight to Tokyo last minute in a draw, Sumit Nagal talks about battling jet lag, terrible weather, how he won India's first singles Olympic match in 25 years, and his next The opponent of the round , world number 2 Daniil Medvedev.
Nagal's win against former world number 33 Dennis Istomin on Saturday was also India's first since Leander Paes at the 1996 Atlanta Games. Nagal was born only a year after Paes brought home an individual Olympic medal, ending a 44-year drought.
Nagal, ranked 144 in the world, says, "I am shocked to play with this shirt, which has 'India' written on it. “It came alive for me during the match. I was leading in the second set, serving for the match 5-3 and lost from there and came back in the third especially in a season like this, It's very difficult.
"Had I been playing a Challenger or something, I wouldn't have known what I would have done to be honest. It's emotional to be in my first Olympics and come off the court with a result like this."
No stranger to fancy matchups, Nagal is up against NextGen team star Medvedev after famously taking a set from Roger Federer at the 2019 US Open.
"I'm so excited to be honest. To play the world No. 2 on a big court. Really couldn't ask for more. That's why we play tennis to live these moments. I'm going to enjoy it." I'm most." The sultry conditions in Tokyo, however, have found his goat.
"The weather is terrible, especially when you're playing around 12 noon it's not easy to play tennis and long rallies. So both me and he (Istomin) were focusing on our serve, trying to be more aggressive." Were and getting small points.When you have a chance to hit any kind of big shots, you go for it.
"The courts are very fast and it is difficult for anyone who leads the rally to return."
Nagal is also only beginning to adapt to changes in the surface. He last played on clay in the first round of the Hamburg European Open, the ATP 500, ten days ago and lost. Nagal was unprepared for the Tokyo Tour or Olympic debut, only managing a chance entry in a singles draw last week, after a series of comebacks.
"I came here on Wednesday afternoon, don't forget the seven-hour time difference, so the jet lag was very intense," he says. "I hit twice on Thursday, once on Friday and that was it. It was unfortunate that I came in at the last minute and I couldn't prepare better. But I had to deal with them and focus only on the things that I controlled I'm trying to adapt between surfaces, especially from clay to hard and when it's super-fast it's not easy to get comfortable with. I'm glad I played a good match today When I look at the challenges I have faced, here."