AITA upset as Sumit Nagal and Sasi Kumar Mukund reject playing for India in Davis Cup

Sumit Nagal seems to have gotten himself involved with a feud with the All India Tennis Association (AITA) after excusing himself from competing in the upcoming Davis Cup tie against Finland. Even though the Indian tennis ace cited a hip injury to excuse him from playing in the tournament, he continues to compete on the ATP Challenger Tour, thereby upsetting the AITA. On August 28, Nagal had written to AITA that a hip injury would not allow him to compete against Finland because playing on the hard courts could increase the severity of his injury. Meanwhile, Sasi Kumar Mukund also declined to play the event but due to more understandable reasons.

AITA will speak to Sumit Nagal after Davis Cup is over

With Sumit Nagal having seemingly gone against AITA's wishes, the association said that they will speak to the Indian ace once the Davis Cup is over. AITA's Secretary-General Anil Dhupar told PTI, "To see our player Sumit Nagal playing other tournaments and not playing Davis Cup is upsetting. We definitely want our best players to play for the country, no doubt about it. We are definitely going to take this matter up once we are back (from Finland). We want him in the Davis Cup team. Let's see what appropriate action we can take once we are back. We expect our top players to make themselves available (for the national team)."

Finland is scheduled to host India on indoor hard courts from September 18 onwards. With Nagal having rejected to play, the AITA replaced him with Saketh Myneni. Since Nagal has played in two ATP Challenger events since his comments, AITA were taken by surprise. According to experts, players cannot compete either on hard courts or clay courts if a player is suffering a hip injury. Nagal has since then competed in two clay-court events on Meerbusch (Germany) and Banja Luka (Bosnia & Herzegovina).

Sasi Kumar Mukund denied playing in Davis Cup as well

While Sumit Nagal took the AITA by surprise for his decision not to compete in the upcoming Davis Cup, Sasi Kumar Mukund had more understandable reasons. Mukund said that since he was not as highly ranked as Prajnesh and Ramkumar, he wanted to compete in two main draws in the United States. He said that since he has made 30 points this year and is working really hard, it would be difficult for him 'to come back to form.'

(With inputs from PTI)