A top 100 entry in singles is the first major milestone for any professional tennis player, which can transform them from being among the journeymen in lower-rung events to part of the big boys in the big tournaments.
India's Sumit Nagal celebrates after winning the singles round of 16 match against Hong Kong's Coleman Wong (PTI)
Sumit Nagal has just broken through that door after winning the ATP Chennai Challenger and getting to a new career-high ranking of 98 this week. A top-100 spot is a dream, he said. And it’s one that only 10 Indian men have ever lived in over 50 years since the ATP rankings were introduced in 1973. Nagal joins some of India’s finest who have been there, done that and, in a few cases, stayed there for seasons together.
Vijay Amritraj
Career-high ranking: 18 (1980)
Vijay Amritraj was a top 100 player the moment the ATP rankings came into being in 1973, and remained so for a decade while kissing
his rankings peak in 1980. Among the greatest players that India has ever produced, Vijay made a couple of quarter-finals each at Wimbledon (1973, 1981) and the US Open (1973, 1974). It was his 1973 Wimbledon outing as a teen that really put him in the limelight, as did his serve and a style of play that suited grass.
Ramesh Krishnan
Career-high ranking: 23 (1985)
Son of Ramanathan Krishnan who was ranked as high as world No. 3 in the amateur rankings, Ramesh followed his father's footsteps as
a top-ranked junior. Turning pro in 1973, it took him six years to break into the top 100. A three-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist, Ramesh possessed a solid all-round and touch game, though his serve wasn't quite up with the world’s best. Consistency was
his friend, and he remained a top-100 player for close to two decades.
Sashi Menon
Career-high ranking: 71 (1975)
The Davis Cupper tasted reasonable success in the era of Amritraj brothers. He rose through from being ranked below 250 in 1974 to
89 in September 1975. Earlier that season, he entered the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, which was his best result in a Slam. Menon dropped out of the top 100 after a couple of years, and ended his career with a 92-178 win-loss record in singles. After
tennis, the Indian became an investment advisor in the US.
Anand Amritraj
Career-high ranking: 74 (1974)
Anand Amritraj entered the top 100 rankings in September 1974 and rose to a career-high 74 in November 1974. He remained in the top 100 for over a year, dropping to 109 in November 1975. Amritraj once again made the top 100 for a period just shy of one year (March 1978 to February 1979). Brother of Vijay, the Davis Cupper had a far more illustrious doubles career but also made his presence felt in the singles circuit.
Jasjit Singh
Career-high ranking: 89 (1974)
Hailing from New Delhi, Jasjit Singh entered the top 100 rankings for a short span of 20 days in November 1973. He attained his peak when he rose to 89 in June 1974 for another one-month spell. With a 30-55 win-loss-record in singles, Jasjit couldn't go past the second round in Slams — his best show came at the 1969 US Open and 1975 Australian Open — but did make the mixed doubles quarter-finals at the 1973 US Open with South African Ilana Kloss.
Leander Paes
Career-high ranking: 73 (1998)
The former doubles world No. 1 was a top-100 singles player as well. Turning pro in 1991, Paes, who had been a top-ranked junior, took his time in rising through the rankings ladder in singles. He first knocked on the top 100 door in early 1997, and got into it in September that year. In and out of it over the next two seasons, Paes shifted focus to doubles thereafter. Among his most cherished successes would come in singles — the 1996 Olympics bronze medal.
Somdev Devvarman
Career-high ranking: 62 (2011)
Somdev had two stints as a top 100 player: the first in 2010-11, in which he rose to 62 in July 2011, and the second in 2013-14 coming back from a shoulder injury. He took the American college route to pursue the sport, a path not many Indians prefer to travel lately. His NCAA success for University of Virginia made his transition into the pro world smoother, breaking into the top 100 three years after turning pro in 2008. Among the fittest Indians on the Tour, his game had similarities to Nagal’s.
Yuki Bhambri
Career-high ranking: 83 (2018)
Yuki had a fantastic junior career, scaling the No. 1 peak in 2009 and winning the prestigious Orange Bowl. Turning pro in 2008, Yuki's big leap came in 2015 when, starting the year ranked 315, he broke into the top 100 in October. Three years later he achieved his career-high ranking, but a serious knee injury kept him down to playing just two singles tournaments from 2019-2021. Yuki had wins over the likes of Gael Monfils and Lucas Pouille and bagged seven Challenger singles titles, and could’ve kicked on to bigger things if not for an injury-prone body.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran
Career-high ranking: 75 (2019)
A late bloomer, Prajnesh got his first taste of being a top 100 player at age 29. In a career pegged back by recurring knee fractures for five years from 2010 (he was unranked in 2015), the southpaw with a solid baseline game managed to find a second wind in his career. A couple of Challenger titles in 2018 acted as a springboard to a fruitful 2019 season, in which he played the main draws of all four Slams, Indian Wells and Miami Masters and had a nine-month stint in the top 100.
Sumit Nagal
Career-high ranking: 98 (2024)
It’s been five years since India had a representation in the top 100 charts, and Nagal seemed the player to end the long wait. Mentored by Mahesh Bhupathi, Nagal made headlines when he qualified for his first Slam main draw and took a set off Roger Federer on debut at the 2019 US Open. Next year, he became the first Indian man since Somdev to win a singles Slam main draw match, and got closer to breaking the top 100 door. But a hip injury in 2021 shut it down, only for Nagal to find his way back into it this month overcoming a couple of years of struggle.
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