Indian tennis is entering a dark phase as the safety net disappears in Nagoya

Indian tennis arrived at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games with a proud history. He leaves Japan with something that hasn’t happened in four decades: without a medal.

For the first time since 1986, India failed to win a single tennis medal at the Asian Games. Since 1990, there has been at least one podium finish in every year. That run eventually came to an end when Sumit Nagal, India’s last remaining hope, lost 4-6, 4-6 to China’s Wu Yibing in the men’s singles quarter-finals.

The result is not just a poor Asian Games campaign. He is a reflection of how far Indian tennis has slipped.

It used to be a sport in which India could almost always count on a medal. Leander Paes remains India’s most decorated Asian Games athlete with eight medals, including five golds. Mahesh Bhupathi, Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna have continued this tradition, allowing Indian fans to watch Grand Slam tournaments and major international events.

There was none of that reassurance in Nagoya. Courtesy: Sony LIV

NOT FOR SALE FROM THE BEGINNING

India’s problems started even before the first match.

The Asian Games team has been embroiled in a selection controversy after five players were left out following a government cut in the proposed contingent. Among those affected were Manas Dhamne, Vaishnavi Adkar, Sahaja Yamalapalli, Vaidehee Chaudhari and Prarthana Thombare. AITA disputed the account of how the omission occurredwhile the Sports Authority of India claimed that the players were not part of the final recommended list.

The most glaring consequence was India’s absence from the women’s singles draw. Sahaja, India’s top singles player, along with fellow contenders Vaishnavi and Vaidehee were left out.

Bopanna questioned the process, arguing that the players who earned their place in the international competition deserved their opportunity.

It was hardly an ideal preparation for a campaign in which India needed every weapon available.

WHERE ARE THE SUCCESSORS?

The deeper problem is that Indian tennis has not found a replacement for its golden generation.

Bopann’s retirement left a particularly big hole. He still won Grand Slam titles into his 40s, reached world number one in doubles and remained India’s great insurance at major tournaments. He won the men’s doubles gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games and was part of the the mixed doubles team that won the gold medal at Hangzhou 2022.

There is no Indian player now who gives you the same feeling that a Grand Slam or Major title is within reach.

There are good professionals out there. Yuki Bhambri and N Sriram Balaji have experience while younger players like Dhakshineswar Suresh have shown flashes of promise. But lightning is not enough.

In Nagoya, both Indian men’s doubles teams fell in the quarterfinals. Balaji and Anirudh Chandrasekar lost the deciding tie-break match while Bhambri and Dhakshineswar were also eliminated in the last eight stage. Even mixed and women’s doubles could not save the campaign.

It’s a worrying decline for a country that once relied heavily on double success. Courtesy: Sony LIV

THE FALL OF SUMIT NAGALA

Sumit Nagal was perhaps the clearest symbol of both hope and disappointment.

In 2024, Nagal seemed to have broken through. He broke into the world top 100 after winning the Chennai Challenger and climbed to a career-high No. 68 in July. He also became the first Indian to win an ATP Masters 1000 match on clay and looked capable of breaking into the top 50.

That year, Nagal achieved something no Indian since Prajnesh Gunneswaran had done in 2019 — played in the main draw of all four Grand Slams. He reached the second round at the Australian Open while appearing in the main draws at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open.

But he could not sustain this momentum.

Since then, Nagal has struggled to stay in touch with the higher levels of the game. At the 2026 Asian Games, he was ranked 248th according to the September ITF rankings. He was still India’s leading singles player and the country’s last hope in Nagoya, but his quarter-final exit again exposed the lack of depth behind him.

The slide was also noticeable at the Grand Slams. Nagal was forced to qualify for the US Open, where he lost in the opening round to the French Arthur Geo.

From playing all four Grand Slam main draws in 2024 to struggling to qualify two years later, Nagal’s downfall reflects the wider uncertainty surrounding Indian men’s tennis.

Meanwhile, at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Dhakshineswar reached the third round before losing to Chun-Hsin Tseng of Chinese Taipei. Once Nagal fell, India’s challenge in the singles was over.

Nagal is 29. He will be 33 by the time the next Asian Games are held in Doha in 2030.

This makes the need for a new generation even more urgent.

WOMEN LEFT BEHIND

If men’s tennis is fighting for a successor, women’s tennis has probably suffered an even steeper decline.

Sania Mirza will retire in 2023 ended one of the greatest careers of Indian tennis. A six-time Grand Slam champion and former world number one in doubles, Mirza has been the face of Indian women’s tennis for over a decade.

There hasn’t been a comparable player since she left.

That absence was brutally visible in Nagoya. India didn’t even have a women’s singles. Ankita Raina and Rutuja Bhosale competed in the doubles, but their campaign ended without a medal.

One player, one selection decision or one bad tournament is not responsible for the decline of Indian tennis. But Nagoya put all those problems together.

In Hangzhou, India won gold in mixed doubles and silver in men’s doubles. Three years later, there was nothing.

Even the depth that once existed in women’s tennis has diminished. Ankita Raina, for example, played the qualifying rounds of a Grand Slam as recently as the 2024 Australian Open where she reached the second round of qualifying. Now even that level of representation has disappeared.

Other Indian sports produced historic performances in Aichi-Nagoya. Tennis, once one of the country’s most reliable Asian Games disciplines, produced its first medal-less campaign in 40 years.

It can be said to be one of the lowest points in the history of Indian tennis, if not the lowest.

The medals are gone. Icons are discarded. Even Grand Slam qualifying spots are becoming a thing of the past. And the next generation has not yet convinced itself that it can fill the void.

– The end