India’s top-ranked tennis player, Sumit Nagal, was ousted in the first round of the ongoing Wimbledon Championships in London. Nagal made a plethora of unforced errors against Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic to bow out in the first round.
It was Nagal’s first main draw appearance at Wimbledon and he lost 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6. Nagal committed 44 unforced errors in the match that lasted two hours and 38 minutes.
Kecmanovic, ranked 53 in the world, wasn’t at his clinical best but it was enough to oust Nagal. The Serbian won the first set but Nagal soon was back on level terms when he won the second.
However, Kecmanovic won the next two sets to pocket the match. The Serb sent down six aces and only made two double faults.
Nagal, who is ranked 72 in the world, hit 47 winners but it was the 44 unforced errors that did him in. His struggle to cope up with the pace of the grass court was evident in his shot making.
This is the second time the duo has met, and both matches ended in favour of the Serbian. The first time the players met was at an ATP 250 event in Cologne, Germany, four years ago.
The last time an Indian played in the main draw of Wimbledon was Prajnesh Gunneswaran in 2019. Gunneswaran also made a first-round exit then.
Nagal, who has also qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics, is playing in the main draw of all three Grand Slams this year.
He qualified for the Australian Open earlier this year and beat 31st-seeded Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan in the first round. He had then become the first Indian male tennis player to beat a seeded player in 35 years in a Grand Slam.
He also played in the main draw of the French Open at Roland Garros in May and also lost in the first round.
Nagal also qualified for the main draw of the Indian Wells Masters and Monte Carlo Masters, ATP 1000 events, this year. At the Challenger level too, Nagal impressed at the Heilbronn Challenger and the Chennai Open ATP Challenger.