A tennis player has begged the Chinese government for help with visa issues after being blocked from playing his Australian Open qualifier. Sumit Nagal, who is ranked as his country’s best singles player, is due to compete in a qualifying event in China later this month. The tournament will see the top players from the Asia-Pacific region compete for the Australian Open main draw.

Nagal, however, is currently blocked from entering China due to visa problems. In a desperate bid to rectify the situation, he took to X (formerly Twitter) to ask for help from the Chinese ambassador to India and the Chinese embassy in India. He began his post with an ‘urgent’ tag before mentioning the relevant authorities by tagging their official profiles.

“I am Sumit Nagal, India’s No 1 tennis player,” he wrote. “I am supposed to fly to China soon to represent India at the Australian Open playoff. But my visa was rejected without reason. Your urgent help would be much appreciated.”

Nagal enjoyed an impressive run to the second round of the Australian Open in 2024 after winning three qualifying matches. He secured a big win over Alexander Bublik in the first round before eventually falling at the hands of Shang Juncheng.

Later that year, he went on to become the first Indian player to win a match at a Masters 1000 event on clay, beating Matteo Arnaldi at the Monte Carlo Masters.

At last year’s Australian Open, he reached the main draw but was dumped out at the first hurdle by Tomas Machac, who went on to reach the fourth round.

Missing out on this year’s tournament would be a huge setback for Nagal, who has spent time in the world’s top 100 but is currently ranked 275th.

He previously said that he wanted to represent India on the world stage and challenge its reputation as a cricket country by proving that it can produce quality tennis talent.

“My goal in tennis is to do really well, so people aren’t saying that India is only good at cricket,” explained Nagal in an interview with Tennis.com. “I want to be the one who leads that.”

He also spoke about the economic struggles often felt by players outside the sport’s elite, adding: “When you don’t make at least the semis of a Challenger, you are in loss every week.

“You maybe pay 80,000 euros (£70,401) per year if you travel with a coach. I made about 100,000 euros (£88,002) in prize money in 2023 by winning two Challengers and reaching two semis. You have to do well, otherwise the calculation doesn’t work out.”