Sumit Nagal withdraws from Davis Cup due to back injury

India’s top-ranked men’s tennis player Sumit Nagal has withdrawn from the Davis Cup tie against Sweden.

Nagal said he has been suffering from a niggle in his back that has been bothering him for a few weeks and added that upon the advice of his medical team he will be taking a two-week rest leaving him with no time to prepare for India’s Davis Cup match.

Nagal took to social media to inform of his withdrawal. “Hello everyone, I was really looking forward to representing in the upcoming Davis Cup tie against Sweden. However, due to a back issue that’s been bothering me for the past few weeks, doctors have advised me to rest for the next two weeks, leaving me without enough time to prepare and compete in Sweden,” he said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Nagal added that it was the same issue that forced his withdrawal from the doubles match at the US Open, the season’s last Grand Slam. “This same issue also led to my withdrawal from the US Open doubles,” he added in the post.

The 27-year-old added that he is taking the advice of his medical team and more importantly listening to his body so that he can finish the season on a high and healthy note. “I’m deeply disappointed to be missing this tie, but I have to listen to my body to prevent the back from worsening, so that I can finish the season strong and healthy. Good luck to the Indian team - I’ll be cheering for you all from home,” he concluded in his post.

Nagal is the first Indian, after Prajneesh Gunneswaran in 2019, to play in the main draw of all the four Grand Slams in a year.

He won his first round match at the Australian Open beating 31st seed Alexander Bublik 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 before losing to Shang Juncheng in the second round.

He lost to Karen Khachanov in the first round at Roland Garros and Miomir Kecmanovic beat the Indian in the opening round at Wimbledon.

At the US Open, Nagal suffered a straight-set loss to Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands in the first round.

Nagal is the highest ranked Indian male tennis player at World No. 68.

Indian team for Davis Cup:

Ramkumar Ramanathan, Sriram Balaji, Niki Poonacha and Siddharth Vishwakarma.

Reserve player: Aryan Shah

Captain: Rohit Rajpal

Coach: Ashutosh Singh