India’s Sumit Nagal. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters
After spending 10 straight months in the top 100 in the ATP singles rankings, India’s Sumit Nagal on Monday (January 27, 2025) dropped out of the much-desired bracket following a string of poor shows.
Veteran Rohan Bopanna lost his place in the top 20 due to an early exit from the Australian Open, where he was defending a lot of points.
Nagal maintained his top-100 rank since March 2024 after first breaking into the top 100 in February same year on the back of a good show at the first Major of the season.
However, he has lost 16 places to be at number 106 with 565 points in the latest chart.
The feisty tennis player has struggled on the demanding Tour, of late. Since Wimbledon 2024 in July, Nagal has competed in 18 tournaments managing to win only three main draw matches on the Tour and Challenger circuit.
A top-100 place helps in getting direct entries at the big events, including Grand Slams, where even defeat at an early stage of the tournament also ensures a decent prize money.
Following Nagal was Sasikumar Mukund at number 365 (+2), Ramkumar Ramanathan (406, -1), Karan Singh (496, -20) and Aryan Shah (593, -9).
In doubles, Bopanna, who is still playing solid tennis at the age of 44, lost five places to be at number 21. Being the Australian Open defending champion, Bopanna had to defend a lot of points in Melbourne, where he lost in the opening round with new partner Nicolas Barrientos.
Bopanna has featured in top-20 consistently since October 3, 2022.
Yuki Bhambri was unchanged at number 47 and following him was N. Sriram Balaji (64, +1), Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli (79, -7) and Arjun Kadhe (83, +1).
Mukund, Ramkumar, Balaji Karan Singh and Bollipalli are part of the Indian Davis Cup squad that will take on Togo in the World Group I Play-off tie on February 1-2.
Nagal and Bhambri did not make themselves available for the match.
Published – January 27, 2025 03:26 pm IST
