Sumit Nagal apologises for taunting gesture after Maia Challenger win

Sumit Nagal apologised after making a talking gesture following his first-round victory over Henrique Rocha at the Maia Challenger in Portugal on Oct. 14, 2026, beating the second seed 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(5).

The match was Nagal’s first on indoor clay and finished in a tense decider: Rocha, eight days after winning in Porto, served for the match twice at 5-4 and again at 6-5 in the final set before the contest went to a tiebreak that Nagal closed out after leading 4-2, falling to 4-5 and then winning the last three points; a posted update noted the match lasted 2h56 and the local crowd booed Nagal’s celebration.

Nagal moved to defuse the situation on social media, posting an apology on his Instagram story: “To the crowd in Maia, I want to apologise for the talking gesture I made after the match. It was a heat-of-the-moment reaction, and it wasn’t the right way to respond. I respect everyone who came out to watch, and I appreciate you being there. I’ve also spoken to Henrique and apologised to him personally.”

The victory arrived amid an uneven 2026 for Nagal; he began the year with a hip injury sustained at a Challenger in Thailand, was rushed back for India’s Davis Cup tie against the Netherlands in February and lost both his matches there, and later won a Challenger in Romania — his seventh career title and his first since June 2024 — before reaching a semi-final in Czechia in August.

His recent form had included a straight-sets defeat by Wu Yibing in the Asian Games quarter-final, 4-6, 4-6, and losses in September’s Davis Cup qualifier in Seoul where he dropped both singles to Hyeon Chung and Kwon Soon-woo as India went down 3-1.

Ranked 280th, Nagal advances to the round of 16 at Maia and will meet Croatia’s Luka Mikrut, who won a Challenger event in Genoa last month, in the pre-quarterfinals.