Mahesh Bhupathi personally mentored Sumit Nagal: Gaurav Natekar

New Delhi, July 16 (IANS)

Former Davis Cupper and two-time Asian Games gold medallist Gaurav Natekar said that Indian tennis ace and 12-time Grand Slam champion Mahesh Bhupathi's personal efforts and mentoring helped Sumit Nagal win at Wimbledon.

The 17-year-old Nagal became front page material when he clinched the boys' doubles title at Wimbledon on Sunday.

"Sumit started his tennis in one of our academies and was picked up by Mahesh at the age of 11-12. Mahesh personally mentored him and found sponsors for him," Natekar said here on Thursday.

The former multiple-time national champion was here in his capacity as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Mahesh Bhupathi Tennis Academies (MBTA) to launch the Inter School Tennis Challenge with the help of Information Technology (IT) firm HCL that will be held here from July 27 to August 2.

"Sumit was playing under one of our programmes in Bangalore in his initial days when Mahesh picked him up. He has been training in Germany for the past three years. I hope Sumit gets all the recognition he deserves," said Natekar.