SM Krishna Memorial Open Doubles Winner Nick Chappell Says Trip to India Makes Him Pick up Tennis Again

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Nick Chappell and his doubles partner, Grigory Lomakin, clinched the SM Krishna Memorial Open Doubles title at the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium in Bengaluru, overcoming the Indian duo SD Prajwal Dev and Nitin Kumar Sinha with a 6-2, 7-6(5) victory.

This win served as sweet redemption following their narrow loss in the M25 Ahmedabad final just a week prior. "We were playing really well the last two weeks and I think from the start of the match today it felt like we were kind of in control.

"But you never know once it gets to a tiebreaker, anything can happen. So, I really wanted to win in two sets so I'm glad that we got it done and I feel like we kind of deserve to win after losing in the finals with match points last week," Nick shared.

This victory marks Chappell's first title since his M15 Ithaca, NY triumph in 2023. Though he's a seasoned traveller on the tennis circuit, particularly after moving to Vietnam, this was his first experience in Bengaluru.

"I have played in Davangere, Dharwad and Gulbarga but this is my first week in Bangalore, I wish I had been here before. I could have played the Challengers the last few years. But I was living in Texas so it was always too big of a trip for me really.

"I hope I can play Challengers in the next couple of years because I really like Bangalore. It's really pretty, all the trees and everything. It feels a little more relaxing than other places. I like Indian food a lot too. Paneer butter masala, is my favourite but I really like south Indian breakfast - idli and poori," he revealed.

Chappell's journey has been one of resilience. In 2017, he reached a doubles ranking of 491, but subsequent struggles, coupled with stagnating singles results, made him pull the plug on tournaments in India and his tennis career.

"I was originally going to come to India for tournaments but then I decided I wanted to stop playing tennis. I pulled out but I still had the flight. So, I flew into Mumbai and met up with a friend for a couple days from tennis.

"And then I went to Udaipur for a few weeks where I met an old friend of a religion professor back home and they showed me around. Then I went to Rishikesh and stayed at a yoga ashram and then went to see the Taj Mahal," he said.

"I think it gave me a little bit of perspective, I talked to a lot of people about what they're doing. I always felt that if I wasn't pushing forward and moving up the rankings that I need to just stop playing.

"And then there's always been moments where I'm like, well, I just really love to play. So why not just keep doing what I love to do? So, I think having a perspective of seeing that made me pick up tennis again," he added.

Despite his doubles success, Chappell had to withdraw from the singles second round against Ryuki Matsuda at the SM Krishna Memorial Open due to an abdominal strain. With the recent success, he is now looking to switch strategies and focus on both formats.

"My doubles ranking is not that good actually because I've never really focused on doubles. So now I'm trying to play both because I don't want to stop playing singles. But my body isn't doing as well as it once was.

"Normally, in a tournament, if I wasn't feeling well, I'd probably withdraw from doubles and try to play singles. This is the first time I've done the opposite and it worked out quite well. I'll probably try to keep playing more doubles as the year goes on. Especially the next couple of months depending on how my body's feeling," he signed off.