Sumit Nagal, India’s top-ranked men’s singles player, withdraws from Davis Cup Tie, cites AITA

New Delhi: The All India Tennis Association expressed disappointment Tuesday at Sumit Nagal's absence from last week's Davis Cup tie against Sweden. Nagal, who claimed to be injured, has now been selected to participate in an ATP tournament in China. AITA Secretary Anil Dhupar highlighted that the absence of key players like Nagal and Yuki Bhambri had a significant impact on India's 0-4 loss to Sweden in the World Group I contest.

Two singles specialist had to be fielded as doubles specialist N Sriram Balaji opened the rubber in the absence of key players. Ramkumar Ramanathan was the only experienced player in the squad; two of the remaining three—Aryan Shah and Siddharth Vishwakarma—made their debut during the tie.

Niki Poonacha has played in just one previous Davis Cup tie and doesn’t really have an abundance of singles experience, while Sumit Nagal pulled out due to a back problem. Yuki Bhambri didn’t report a reason for withdrawing. Curiously, Nagal opted for the ATP250 in Hangzhou instead and will play a qualifier in his opener.

“Definitely if Sumit and Yuki had played, we would have had far better chances. They questioned the management of AITA, the captain and team. Sumit Nagal said he had some back problem, but (is) that problem okay (now)? He is playing a tournament in China, so somebody has to make people understand the right thing,” Dhupar said.

When asked whether Mukund Sasikumar, who was already suspended by the All India Tennis Association (AITA), could have been included, AITA secretary Anil Dhupar revealed that despite the suspension, captain Rohit Rajpal made efforts to get him on the team for the tie.

“The captain called 10 times and that he will request the executive committee to revoke the decision (suspension). It’s time for you to play. If there is a decision against you, he will request the executive committee. But he refused.” After India’s crushing defeat, Nagal and former players Somdev Devvarman and Purav Raja had questioned the way AITA functions.

Sumit Nagal was one of those who spoke out against the seating arrangement before the dead rubber against Sweden but is stumped as to why AITA officials were seated in the front row when the players were relegated to the back row.

AITA also released a statement on its twitter handle, saying that Davis Cup is more than just tennis.

“Representing India in Davis Cup is more than just tennis — it’s about honour, national pride and inspiring the next generation of athletes. Players like Sumit Nagal, Yuki Bhambri and Mukund Sasikumar refused to play for country even though they were participating in other tournaments elsewhere.

“AITA management, including the captain of the Davis Cup team, tried to convince each of them to play for country, but they simply refused,” the tennis body said in its statement. PTI reached out to Nagal, Bhambri and Mukund but all three refused to comment.

AITA also highlighted its efforts by releasing a list of activities, noting that it organized 829 tournaments for players in the 2023 season and conducted several courses for new coaches, with 130 new coaches registering with the sports body in 2024. When asked about the purpose of this statement, Dhupar responded, “I’m not trying to make any point. I’m just sharing the things we have done.”

“There is one point that people should know. Number two, Davis Cup is definitely a very important. It’s more than a tournament, every player who is an Indian should participate if selected. So why not? “He (Nagal) said that he had a back injury and now he has entered this Hangzhou Open. He has become alright. My good wishes to him. Let the country decide. Let the people of India decide,” Dhupar said.

“And it is not the first time that Mukund refused, three times before. Let the people decide, the players decide what can we do? We tried our best to bring these people on board. If they are not available, what to do?” Dhupar said that AITA was facing “unnecessary” criticism for the loss against Sweden.

“The new committee is going to be coming in the first week of October. They will decide what is to be done.”