BRISBANE, Australia – India’s top-ranked tennis player is appealing to Chinese authorities after he said he was denied a visa to compete in the Australian Open wild card tournament starting November 24 in Chengdu.
Sumit Nagal took to social media to ask the Chinese Ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, and the Chinese Embassy to intervene on his behalf.
“I am supposed to travel to China soon to represent India in the Australian Open qualifiers,” Nagal posted on Tuesday. “But my visa has been rejected without reason. Your urgent assistance will be greatly appreciated.”
Australian Open officials were asked for comment on Wednesday. The 2026 Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, begins on January 18 in Melbourne.
Relations between the two Asian powers and with the two most populous countries in the world have improved recently. India and China last month planned to resume direct flights between some of their cities after a five-year suspension as relations between the two countries began to thaw.
The Press Trust of India reported that there was no immediate response from the embassy or the match organizers.
One of the 28-year-old Nagal’s most notable achievements was taking the opening set of his US Open match against Roger Federer in 2019. But Federer won the next three sets to advance to the second round.
Nagal had a career-high individual ranking of 68 in July 2024 but his current ranking is 290. He has been a member of the Indian Davis Cup team since 2018.
In January, he lost in the first round of the Australian Open and failed to qualify for the French Open and Wimbledon. He won the 2015 Wimbledon boys’ doubles title with Vietnam’s Le Hoang Nam, becoming the sixth Indian player to win the junior Grand Slam title.
An Asia-Pacific Championship play-off at the Australian Open is scheduled for November 24-29 at the Sichuan International Tennis Centre. It is a men’s and women’s singles event with 16 players and 12 teams in men’s and women’s doubles.
In last year’s Asia-Pacific qualifiers, also held in Chengdu, Zhang Shuai of China and Kasidit Samraj of Thailand secured two places in the main draw of the 2025 Australian Open.
Zhang defeated American McCartney Kesler in the first round in Melbourne before losing to 24th seed Yulia Putintseva in the second round. Samrej, who had never before competed in a Grand Slam, not even in a qualifier, extended fifth seed Daniil Medvedev to five sets before losing in the first round.
