Aiming to break into top-80 for Olympics berth: Nagal

“Like I said first, it is the top-100. Then we will look at the top-80 and the Olympics Games place. I think you need to around 80-85 in the world to make it,” he told reporters here on the sidelines of an event organised by Aspire High Performance Tennis Programme.

Nagal, who is currently placed 130 in the ATP rankings, is presently training at the Aspire Foundation centre at the IIT-Madras premises here ahead of the 2020 season. The Indian made it to the semi-final or better of eight ATP Challengers this year, going through to the final twice and winning the title in Buenos Aires.

He had wins over former World No.17 Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Martin Klizan and made it to the main draw of an ATP 500 (at Hamburg) for the first time in his career. Asked what Roger Federer had told him after the US Open first round match in New York, the 22-year-old Nagal revealed the Swiss legend didn’t say much but did say nice things (about him).

“That day, he didn’t say much. He wished me the best. I heard him say nice things about me in the media,” he added. After a good year during which he jumped to 130 after being ranked 340 at the end of 2018, Nagal said the biggest factor this season was staying injury-free and having no issues with his body. “In my last 4-5 years, every year I have played seven to eight months. For the first time in the last five years, I had played without getting injured. I tore my ankle in the summer. Other than that, body has been fine. No new injuries or big issues with my body,” he stated.

Nagal wished to play more ATP Tour events but for that he will have to first improve his rankings. “I am still in a spot where I will mostly be in the qualifiers of the ATP 250 events, so the focus is to improve my ranking.” Asked what was the reason behind him training in Chennai, Nagal said the sultry conditions is pretty similar to what is there in Melbourne where he would play Australian Open qualifiers.