Author Chetan Bhagat's tweet praising tennis player Sumit Nagal's performance against Swiss tennis maestro Roger Federer has not gone down well with the netizens as many criticised the author for his poor knowledge of tennis.
Bhagat took to Twitter to applaud Nagal's first set win against Federer.
"Grew up being told that India has no chance in singles tennis at the global level. Just now @nagalsumit from my country won a set against The Roger Federer at the #USOpen. One day, India will win the Grand Slam too. Go Sumit Go," Bhagat had tweeted.
Netizens slammed Bhagat for poor knowledge of tennis in the country and asked the author is he aware of names like Vipul Amritraj, Leander Paes, and Mahesh Bhupathi.
"Hello, my dear half brain friend. You have never heard about Amirtraj bros, Paes, Bhupathi, Sa etc," one fan tweeted.
"Chetan ko 2014 se pehle ka kuch yaad nahi hai Bechaara," wrote another.
"How much nonsense can you spew Mr Bhagat? I grew up in an India where the Amritraj brothers were international giants and young men and women confidently aspired to international tennis careers. You've been living under some obscure rock," one Twitter user wrote.
"I think ignoring the person would be better than responding through the tweet," another user commented.
"Nonsense. There was a time when the ABC of tennis was said to be Amritraj Borg Connors. We did very well in Davis Cup, thanks to A. Before him, Ramanathan Krishan was a Wimbledon semifinalist -- twice," one tennis fan wrote.
"When were you born? It does not matter really. A little common sense will tell you, you know nothing about the Tennis World before you were born. Collect your facts, Sir, before you talk," one Twitter user pointed out.
Federer had defeated 22-year-old Nagal 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in the first round match.
However, Nagal had become the first Indian to defeat Federer in a set of a Grand Slam. He also became the fourth player to take the opening set against Federer at the US Open.
Peter Wessels (Netherlands), Jose Acasuso (Argentina) and Frances Tiafoe (America) are the other players who have won their first set against the Swiss tennis star.
The first set was a closely fought affair as both Federer and Nagal went back and forth and at one stage the set was tied at 4-4. It was then that Nagal won games continuously and went on to grab the first set 6-4.
In the second set, Federer came out all guns blazing to take the second set 6-1.
The 38-year-old Federer was in no mood to slow down and he carried the momentum in the third set and wrapped it up 6-2.
Nagal, who currently holds the 190th position in the ATP rankings, was able to show grit in the fourth set as the scoreline was levelled at 2-2 at one stage, but Federer bounced back by playing an aggressive style of tennis, forcing Nagal to hang back on the court. In the end, the Swiss won the fourth set 6-4.
The Indian player had qualified for the US Open main draw on Friday.
He became the youngest Indian in 25 years to qualify for the main draw of a Grand Slam after defeating Brazil's Jaao Menezes 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
Nagal had earlier bagged the Wimbledon Boys' doubles title in 2015.
( With inputs from ANI )