India's No. 1 Tennis Player Sumit Nagal Is Not Living A Good Life, Has Only 900 Euros In His Account

India's number one tennis player Sumit Nagal is left with less than 900 Euros in his bank account after arranging for a sustenance budget of Rs one crore that keeps him going on the ATP Tour. The champion player feels that he is not living a good life.

He could not train at his favorite place, Nansel Tennis Academy in Germany, for the first three months of this year because of the lack of budget.

His friends Somdev Devvarman and Christopher Marquis helped him stay in shape in January and February before he finally managed to fund his stay in Germany.

Indian tennis players have always found it difficult to fund themselves but the fact that even the country's best singles player has to go through the same shows the scary and sad truth of the sporting system.

With no options left, Nagpal had to invest his prize money, salary from IOCL, and the support he gets from Maha Tennis Foundation to play on the extravagant ATP Tour.

The expenditure goes into his stay at the training centre in Peine and his travel for tournaments along with either his coach or a physio.

"If I look at my bank balance, I have what I had at the beginning of the year. It is 900 euros (approx Rs 80,000). I did get a bit of help. Mr Prashant Sutar is helping me with MAHA Tennis Foundation and I also get monthly (salary) from IOCL but I don't have any big sponsor," Nagal told PTI in an interview.

Nagal's racquet, shoes and apparel needs are being taken care of by Yonex and ASICS respectively.

In the 24 tournaments that he has played this year, Nagal has earned about 65 lakh with his biggest pay cheque coming from the US Open where he lost the first round of the Qualifiers and still pocketed USD 22,000 (approx Rs 18 lakh).

"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.

"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.

"I felt when my ranking dropped after injury, no one wanted to help me, no one really believed that I could be back. That was disappointing because I feel whatever I do is not enough. It's so hard to find financial support in India. To be honest I do not know what to do, I have given up."

The son of a primary school teacher in Punjabi Bagh, Nagal fought off-court battles last year when he underwent a hip surgery and also contracted COVID a couple of times.

(With inputs from PTI)