“India’s No 1 tennis player” Sumit Nagal is counting on the Internet’s power to spread the word about an impossible-to-ignore matter. Taking to his official X account on Tuesday morning, the 28-year-old athlete was left with no choice but to direct his plea to top Chinese officials over an upcoming sports tournament set to be held in the East Asian country.
Indian tennis star’s Chinese visa rejected
Red-flagging his case as an “URGENT” one, Nagal wrote on X, “I am Sumit Nagal, India’s No.1 Tennis player.” Tagging Xu Feihong, the Chinese Ambassador to India, and Yu Jing, the spokesperson of Chinese Embassy in India, in his post, he requested the officials to look into an unprovoked visa rejection that could potentially ruin his chances to represent India at the global stage.
India’s leading men’s singles tennis athlete further detailed his eye-grabbing case, saying, “I am supposed to fly to China soon to represent India at the Australian Open Playoff. But my visa was rejected without reason.”
[URGENT]
— Sumit Nagal (@nagalsumit) November 11, 2025
Respected @China_Amb_India and @ChinaSpox_India
I am Sumit Nagal, India’s No.1 Tennis player
I am supposed to fly to China soon to represent India at the Australian Open Playoff. But my visa was rejected without reason
Your urgent help would be much appreciated 🙏🏽
The shocking visa case has come to light just days ahead of Nagal’s scheduled attendance at the Australian Open Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-off. The sporting tournament is slated to take place in Chengdu, a city in China, from November 24 to 29, 2025.
As the currently highest-ranked Indian star player in the men’s single roster, Nagal has long been expected the lead as example at the severely coveted tennis series. The forthcoming tournament especially works its charm as a crucial stepping stone in the path to potentially securing a wildcard entry into the Australian Open 2026 main draw.
About Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal
Back in February 2024, Nagal penned an emotion Instagram post after having “cracked the Top 100 Ranking.”
At the time, he captioned his post, “Feels surreal to achieve it in my home country 🇮🇳 Extremely proud of my team for working hard everyday and giving ourselves a chance to be where we are today.”
According to his athlete profile on the ATP Tour website, Sumit was born on August 16, 1997, in Jhajjar. He turned pro in 2015, with a career-high Pepperstone ATP Ranking blessing him with a major milestone last year.
Following an impressive and triumphant performance in the ATP Challenger Tour, Nagal became the first Indian to secure enter the Top 100 Ranking roster since 2019. Achieving the World No 98 rank on the table, he became the overall 10th Indian to crack the Top 100.
“It was the most emotional day for me. As a kid everyone wants to be a Top 100 player. Everyone dreams of having that double-digit ranking,” he told ATPTour.com after scoring the historic win. “To be able to do this in front of the Indian crowd, I don’t think I could’ve asked for a better place.”
Despite having gone pro in 2015, he actually started playing tennis as an 8 -year-old. Merely two years down the line, he came down to Bengaluru for a Mahesh Bhupathi academy tryout. The legendary Indian tennis icon behind the training facility has long been the young athlete’s mentor and a lot more.
“The one guy who has been behind me since day one is Mahesh Bhupathi, another legend from Indian tennis. He has been my mentor, manager, brother, father figure,” he said, as per ATPTour.com.
“He has played so many roles that I can’t even [name]. He has been a big part of the journey. There was a time in 2010 when I quit playing tennis for two or three months and I remember it was only Mahesh and my family pushing me to play this sport again.”
What is the Australian Open Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-off?
Launching in 2012, the annual tournament brings out the best in tennis players from the Asia-Pacific region vying for a wildcard spot in the Australian Open main draw. A total of four spots (in addition to prize money) are reserved for the same, all granted to winners of each category: men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles and women’s doubles.
Following last year’s example, the AO 2026 Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-Off is returning to Chengdu again.
