Sumit Nagal rightly made the news when he beat 31st seed Kazakh Alexander Bublik in straight sets earlier this week at the Australian Open to earn 95,000 pounds. It doesn’t happen often nowadays that an Indian player makes it past the first round of a grand slam — in singles.
Which is a sad thing for a country that has some kind of success to boast in the sport. Ghaus Mohammed Khan was the first Indian to reach a grand slam quarterfinal (at Wimbledon 1939). Ramanathan Krishnan reached back-to-back Wimbledon semi-finals in 1960 and 1961. In 1962, he also reached the quarterfinals of the French Open.
11 years passed before an Indian reached the quarterfinals of a grand slam again. It was Vijay Amritraj who reached the Wimbledon last-8 in 1973. The same year and the next year he reached the quarter-finals of the US Open. In 1981, he made it to another quarterfinals of Wimbledon.
The same year Ramesh Krishnan, son of Ramanathan, reached the quarterfinals of the US Open. He did it for the second time in 1987. He also reached the Wimbledon last-8 in 1986.(HT)