Indian tennis star Sumit Nagal has received a wild card entry into the men’s singles event at the Bengaluru Open 2023. Hence the 25-year-old will be in action at the Challenger event which is scheduled to start on 20th February and run till 26th February.
The fifth edition of the ATP Challenger event will be organized by the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) and will be held at the KSLTA stadium in Bengaluru.
Nagal who was once the India No.1 became the first wild card entrant to the event. The 25-year-old got injured and dropped a lot of rankings and is now looking to get back to where he once was and hence this Challenger event will help him a lot in getting back in stead. It is also nostalgic for Nagal as he won his maiden Challenger event in Bengaluru and hence playing here will allow him to reminisce fond memories from the court.
The Bengaluru Open organizing team and Tournament director are very happy to have Sumit Nagal as the wild card as they are sure of his talent and he will also increase the noise levels in the stands when he comes on court as there will be a lot of crowd support for the local boy.
“We are delighted to give Sumit Nagal the first wild card of the fifth DafaNews Bengaluru Open. He is an excellent player and has won his maiden ATP Challenger title here. We are committed to providing our Indian players a world-class platform to rub shoulders with the best names from the tennis world through this tournament. Nagal is one of those players who have performed well here and carried that momentum to do well in their careers. I’m confident that he will make the most of this opportunity and produce a good show,” said Sunil Yajaman, Tournament Director of Bengaluru Open and Joint Secretary of KSLTA.
Apart from winning his maiden Challenger event in Bengaluru, Nagal has also put on impressive performances even in recent years. He finished in the quarterfinals and pre-quarterfinals in the 2018 and 2020 editions of the tournament.
Reminiscing his good memories of the bengaluru Open, Nagal was very thankful for the opportunity to allow him to feature in the event as he gradually makes an effort to climb up the ranking ladder and again be the flagbearer for India in different top events all over globe.
“Playing at the Bengaluru open has always been special for me as it’s the place where I won my first Challenger. Good memories, good vibes and playing in front of an energetic audience is always fun, so I’m extremely grateful and excited for the opportunity to compete at the tournament again. I’m extremely thankful to KSLTA for awarding me a wild card for this prestigious event and I hope to make the best use of it,” Nagal stated after securing the wild entry.
The Indian tennis star will have strong challengers in the form of former World No.10 Lucas Pouille and also last year’s winner Chun-hsin Tseng among many other notable names. Overall it will be a good outing for Nagal who is just looking for more gametime ever since returning from injury. He will look to make a mark in the event and will hopefully give the crowd enough reasons to cheer for him.
