Sumit Nagal, the lone Indian in the singles main draw of the Australian Open by virtue of earning a wild card, is trying to find positives from the year of the pandemic and looking ahead to reset himself for the coming season.

“In a way it was a good break. Am happy to be back and am really looking forward to making 2021 count. There are around 10 months of tournaments this year,” he said, speaking from Melbourne.

Nagal played in the Murray River Open, one of the warm-up events leading to the first Grand Slam of the year, but lost to Ricardas Bernakis 2-6, 2-6 in the first round.

But the 23-year-old felt one plays better when facing tougher opponents and said he had a “gut feeling” that he would be up against a top-10 player in the first round. He had played Roger Federer (at the 2019 US Open) and Dominic Thiem (at the 2020 US Open).

The draw for the rescheduled major would be announced on Thursday.

“A lot of players perform better when they are up against really good players. For me, I get to learn from playing them. So I don’t mind playing big names, someone in top 10,” he said.

Nagal was one of the lucky players who could get access to tennis courts and gyms during the 14-day quarantine upon arrival in Melbourne.

The Indian said living in a bio-bubble is not easy. “It is different for each player. There are players who are a little older and who have families, probably got kids coming with them when they come to play a tournament. Probably they would want to go out and visit the city.

“I can understand them wanting to pull out of Grand Slams. You can stay in the bubble for sometime but to do it for eight-nine months, it is not easy,he said.

“I would have liked to play some more tournaments, but unfortunately I had to end my last season a month earlier. I am trying to practice as much as possible. I think I was lucky enough that our flight had no Covid-19 cases and I did not have to go through hard quarantine.”

He, however, did not think that players in “hard quarantine” will be at a disadvantage going into the tournament. “Everyone is going to have a week before the Australian Open starts. They are going to have eight-nine days, they will catch up,” he said.

The Australian Open will be telecast live on Sony Sports Network from February 8.