New Delhi: Author Chetan Bhagat's tweet praising tennis player Sumit Nagal's performance against Swiss tennis maestro Roger Federer has not gone down well with the netizens as many criticised the author for his poor knowledge of tennis.
Bhagat took to Twitter to applaud Nagal's first set win against Federer.
"Grew up being told that India has no chance in singles tennis at the global level. Just now
@nagalsumit from my country won a set against The Roger Federer at the #USOpen. One day, India will win the Grand Slam too. Go Sumit Go," Bhagat had tweeted.
Grew up being told that India has no chance in singles tennis at the global level. Just now @nagalsumit from my country won a set against The Roger Federer at the #USOpen. One day, India will win the Grand Slam too. Go Sumit Go! https://t.co/GWohaCM5tw
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) August 27, 2019
Netizens slammed Bhagat for poor knowledge of tennis in the country and asked the author is he aware of names like Vipul Amritraj, Leander Paes, and Mahesh Bhupathi.
@Joydas Vijay Amritraj knocked out an icon like Bjorn borg from the 1974 U.S open . He has even beaten legends like Rod Laver, Jimmy Conners, McEnroe & Lendl. So @chetan_bhagat please start taking some lessons on tennis history & don’t just shoot off some nonsense !
— Shama Mohamed (@drshamamohd) August 27, 2019
Hello my dear half brain friend
— Lt Cdr Gokul (R) (@gokulchan) August 27, 2019
You have never heard about Amirtraj bros, Paes, Bhoopathi, Sania etc?
How much nonsense can you spew Mr Bhagat? I grew up in an India where the Amritraj brothers were international giants and young men and women confidently aspired to international tennis careers. You've been living under some obscure rock.
— Shomona Khanna (@alterlaw) August 27, 2019
When were you born? It does not matter really. A little common sense will tell you, you know nothing about the Tennis World before you were born. Collect your facts Sir before you talk.
— Darsha (@scarlett102341) August 27, 2019
Hello! Zero point someone...
— asheesh (@donkeypost) August 27, 2019
Lesson no. 1:
ABC of tennis stands for Amritraj, Borg and Connors
That's more than enough for your brain to process. So lesson no. 2 is for next week. Now chew on that!
Federer had defeated 22-year-old Nagal 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in the first round match.
However, Nagal had become the first Indian to defeat Federer in a set of a Grand Slam. He also became the fourth player to take the opening set against Federer at the US Open.
Peter Wessels (Netherlands), Jose Acasuso (Argentina) and Frances Tiafoe (America) are the other players who have won their first set against the Swiss tennis star.
The first set was a closely fought affair as both Federer and Nagal went back and forth and at one stage the set was tied at 4-4. It was then that Nagal won games continuously and went on to grab the first set 6-4.
In the second set, Federer came out all guns blazing to take the second set 6-1.
The 38-year-old Federer was in no mood to slow down and he carried the momentum in the third set and wrapped it up 6-2.
Nagal, who currently holds the 190th position in the ATP rankings, was able to show grit in the fourth set as the scoreline was levelled at 2-2 at one stage, but Federer bounced back by playing an aggressive style of tennis, forcing Nagal to hang back on the court. In the end, the Swiss won the fourth set 6-4.
The Indian player had qualified for the US Open main draw on Friday.
He became the youngest Indian in 25 years to qualify for the main draw of a Grand Slam after defeating Brazil's Jaao Menezes 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
Nagal had earlier bagged the Wimbledon Boys' doubles title in 2015.
