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Even as Leander Paes and Sania Mirza — both with Martina Hingis — were giving India so much to cheer about in the recently concluded Wimbledon tennis tournament, a 17-year-old Sumit Nagal quietly emerged as a star for the country’s billion people.
The youngster, who won the Wimbledon boys’ doubles trophy with Vietnamese partner Nam Hoang Ly in London on Sunday, entered the record books as only the sixth Indian to win a Grand Slam junior title.
Nagal and his eighth-seed partner beat the fourth-seeds Reilly Opelka and Akira Santillan 7-6(4) 6-4 in the title clash that lasted 63 minutes.
“I never thought I would do anything like this ever,” Nagal said in an interview with NDTV after the match. “Coming from such a big country as India, it’s even more special.”
Sumit’s father, Suresh Nagal dedicated the success to Mahesh Bhupathi, who has been a mentor to the 17-year-old. “Whatever Sumit has achieved is because of Mahesh. Mahesh is like God to us,” NDTV quoted the senior Nagal as saying.
The Indian to taste success at the top level in junior tennis before Nagal was Yuki Bhambri, who won the Australian Open boys’ singles title in 2009.
Ramanathan Krishnan (Wimbledon, 1954), Ramesh Krishnan (French Open and Wimbledon, 1979) and Leander Paes (Wimbledon 1990, US Open 1991) were the other junior Grand Slam singles champions for India.
Sania Mirza had won the Wimbledon girls’ doubles title in 2003 with Russian partner Alisa Kleybanova.
