New Delhi. Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal has jumped 18 places to 77th position in the ATP rankings released on Monday, almost confirming his place in the Paris Olympics men’s singles draw. Nagal has 713 ATP points. Nagal won the men’s singles title at the Heilbronn Neckarcup 2024 Challenger tournament in Germany on Sunday, thanks to which he jumped so high in the rankings.
Nagal defeated Switzerland’s Alexander Ritschard 6-1 6(5)-7 6-3 in two hours and 22 minutes in a thrilling three-set final on Sunday. The rankings released on Monday will decide the entries for the Paris Olympics. According to the Paris Olympics qualification criteria, the top 56 players in both men’s and women’s categories will automatically qualify for the Olympics. But only a maximum of four players from each country will be able to qualify for the Olympics and this rule will give lower ranked players a chance to enter the draw.
Nagal is in a good position to secure the last available ranking spot in the draw. The last player to make it to the main draw of the Olympics was Somdev Devvarman who did so in the 2012 Olympics thanks to a wildcard. Nagal posted on ‘X’ after winning the final, “Very happy to win the title this week in Heilbronn. It was an important week for me and I am proud that I was able to play my best tennis when it mattered the most. “
He said, “If I win such matches, then I can be proud of myself because the match was challenging. The first goal is to play good tennis, ranking comes after that.” This 26-year-old player will thus be the first Indian to qualify for the men’s singles event in Paris. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) will inform the national federations about the qualifying players by June 12, after which the National Olympic Committees will confirm their entries by June 19.
This was Nagal’s sixth ATP Challenger title. This was his second trophy of the year after winning the Chennai Open trophy on home ground earlier this year. Nagal is currently the best-ranked Indian among singles players. He has won four ATP Challenger titles since 2023 and this win in Heilbronn is his fourth title on claycourt.