“I'm lacking support despite being India’s No. 1 player” - Sumit Nagal laments financial troubles, questions exclusion from TOPS
Sumit Nagal has stated that he is not getting enough support despite being India's top-ranked tennis player.
Nagal has been training at the Nansel Tennis Academy in Germany for a few years now. However, with money being tight, he could not train there in the first three months of this year.
The 26-year-old has played in 24 tournaments this year, where he has earned a total of ₹65 lakh in prize money. His biggest payday came at the recently concluded US Open, where, despite losing to Taro Daniel in the first round of the Qualifiers, he pocketed $22,000 (approximately ₹18 lakh).
However, Nagal has said that he reinvests whatever money he earns, stating that the cost of traveling to tournaments with a coach him around ₹80 lakh to ₹1 crore.
“If I look at my bank balance, I have what I had at the beginning of the year. It is 900 euros (approx ₹80,000),” Nagal told PTI.
“I don’t have any big sponsor. I am investing whatever I am making. The yearly cost where I travel with one coach is costing me around 80 lakh to 1 crore and that is just with one travelling coach (no physio). Whatever I have made I have already invested,” he added.
Nagal also questioned why the Government of India does not include him in its Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS).
The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) launched TOPS in September 2014 to help boost India's performance at the Olympics and Paralympics. Under this scheme, athletes are helped with foreign training, international competition participation, equipment, and coaching camps. Besides this, they are also given a monthly stipend.
“I feel like I am lacking support despite being India’s number one player for past few years. I am the only player to qualify for Grand Slams, only player to win a (tennis) match at the Olympics (Tokyo) in last few years, and still the government has not added my name to the TOPS,” he expressed.
Sumit Nagal: “We lack funding, we lack the system; in tennis, we are far away from competing at the top”
Sumit Nagal further stated that Indian tennis players lack not just financial support but also guidance. Comparing India with China, he stated that while both countries have equal potential, only one does well at international events like the Olympics.
“We lack funding, we lack the system. If there is a system, there will be funding. China has money. We have potential like China. Why do we win just 5-6 medals in Olympics but China won 38 gold (in Tokyo),” he said.
“We are 1.4 billion, we can match them in talent but why we do not make it to high level? The guidance is missing. In tennis, we are far away from competing at (the) top,” he added.
Sumit Nagal was last seen in action in the 2023 Davis Cup, where he beat Adam Moundir 6-3, 6-3 in a World Group II tie in Lucknow.