Vijay Amritraj (Player)

Vijay Amritraj, born on December 14, 1953, has been representing India overseas in tennis. He has also been a sports commentator and has been appearing in movies playing different roles. Vijay was born in Chennai and from his childhood has gained a lot of interest in sports (especially tennis). His father is Robert Amritraj, and his mother is Maggie Dharma. He attended Loyola College in Chennai and graduated from there. He is the elder of the three, and both his brothers Anand and Ashok Amritraj Ashok Amritraj was born on 22 February in the year >> Read More... are also international tennis players. In 1970, Vijay attended his first Grand Prix.

He came to the spotlight when he entered in two grand slam events reaching the quarterfinals in both the events in 1973. The year not only brought him success but also brought him failures where he lost to Jan Kodes, an earlier champion and later he lost to Ken Roswell in the US Open after having defeated Rod Laver in two earlier rounds. In 1974, Vijay reached the second stage of the forest hills open after he lost to Bjorn Borg and was later defeated by Roswell in the quarterfinals. In 1979 Wimbledon Opens Vijay again lost to the defending champion Borg.

In 1980, Vijay reached number 16 spot in the World Singles Ranking. He has been an inspirational character in the world of Indian sports where he has not only won many titles for India but has also inspired a lot of Indians to step their foot in the world of tennis. In 1974 and 1987, Vijay was part of the squad for the Indian Davis Cup that reached the finals. He has won 16 singles titles, and 13 doubles titles in his entire career. Vijay has also been a part of many movies and has played various roles.

He was a part of the James Bond flick, Octopussy where he played the character of an MI6 agent, Vijay. He was present in the 4th installment of the Star Trek Click to look into! >> Read More... series. Vijay has also played roles in different TV shows. He has been an active commentator and was also a judge in the Miss Universe competition. Amritraj currently resides in California and is married to Shyamala. His nephew and son are currently professional Tennis players and have been raising awareness for AIDS/HIV and in 1983 was awarded Padma Shri Award and in 2006 founded The Vijay Amritraj Foundation to raise funds for HIV/AIDS patients and help the world.