has yet again refused to play for the country in the , putting "unreasonable conditions" for his return even as Sasikumar Mukund on Friday came back to the national squad for the tie against Togo after his suspension was revoked by the AITA Executive Committee.
Nagal, who has been struggling on the ATP tour, had pulled out of the tie against Sweden in September citing a back strain. He had also refused to travel to Islamabad for the contest against Pakistan in January-February, saying the grass courts do not suit his style of play. An AITA source said, "Nagal has put forward some unreasonable demands which can't be accepted."
The All India Tennis Association (AITA) selection panel picked a five-member squad in which Mukund will be the highest-ranked singles player at number 368.
Mukund was serving a suspension and was not part of the tie against Sweden but non-playing captain Rohit Rajpal had a chat with the talented player, who then made himself available for the World Group I Play-off contest on February 1-2 in New Delhi.
"After captain Rajpal spoke with Mukund, his suspension was revoked by the Executive Committee, so he was picked. He is good player and need to be given a chance to wear the India jersey again," said a source.
It has been learnt that Rajpal, who will continue to lead the Davis Cup team in 2025 season, tried to convince Nagal to return for national duty but he did not respond to the mail in which the players are asked for their availability.
Yuki Bhambri unavailable for selection
Yuki Bhambri, who had also missed the Sweden tie, has made himself unavailable for the contest.
"I am extremely disappointed with Sumit for not making himself available for this tie. We agreed to all his demands last time also still he has refused national duty which is unacceptable," Rajpal told PTI.
Ramkumar Ramanathan (ranked 393) and Karan Singh (473) are the two other singles players in the squad.
In the absence of Bhambri (ranked 48), N Sriram Balaji (65) will lead the doubles team and will most likely partner Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli (72), who got his maiden national team call-up. The AITA selection committee dropped Siddharth Vishwakarma and Niki Poonacha from the squad.
Four players -- Aryan Shah (592), Manas Dhamne, Dakshineshwar Suresh and Yuvan Nandal -- will be called to the training camp and two reserve players will be chosen from among them.
