India, March 6 -- In the locker room of the Balewadi Tennis Stadium in Pune, Sumit Nagal sat listening to "sad music" to match the sombre mood. He recalled sitting there for quite a while, as he dissected his second round loss from earlier that day at the ATP Challenger - a 2:37 hour marathon that he lost 6-7(4), 6-0, 3-6 to Britain's Felix Gill.

Defeats can be hard to deal with, and Nagal is no stranger to it. But something hit differently in Pune.

"It made me sit with my own thoughts where I was asking myself what I want to do in life," he said to HT. "Winning and losing is a part of sports, part of life. But these last two-three weeks, the way I have performed, the way I wanted to play, it just was not where I would have liked."

Thr...