Vijay Amritraj

Vijay Amritraj

Country (sports)	India
Born	(1953-12-14) 14 December 1953 Madras, India
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Turned pro	1970
Retired	1993
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	$1,331,913
Singles
Career record	390–302[1]
Career titles	16
Highest ranking	No. 16 (7 July 1980)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	2R (1984)
French Open	3R (1974)
Wimbledon	QF (1973, 1981)
US Open	QF (1973, 1974)
Other tournaments
WCT Finals	SF (1982)
Doubles
Career record	264–218
Career titles	13
Highest ranking	No. 23 (24 March 1980)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Wimbledon	SF (1976)
US Open	QF (1973, 1976)
Team competitions
Davis Cup	F (1974, 1987)

Vijay Amritraj (born 14 December 1953) is a former tennis player from India, sports commentator and actor. He was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honor in 1983.

Vijay Amritraj partnering Anand at Wimbledon

Early life

Vijay was born in Chennai,^[2] India to Maggie Dhairyam and Robert Amritraj.^[3] He has two brothers, Anand Amritraj and Ashok Amritraj, who were also international tennis players. He did schooling in Chennai and later graduated from Loyola College, Chennai.

Career

After playing his first grand prix event in 1970, Amritraj achieved his first significant success in singles in 1973 when he reached the quarterfinals at two Grand Slam events. At Wimbledon, he lost in five sets to the eventual champion Jan Kodeš and later that summer at the US Open, lost to Ken Rosewall after having beaten Rod Laver two rounds earlier.

Amritraj beat Björn Borg in the second round in Forest Hills Open in 1974 before losing to Rosewall in quarterfinals. In 1979, he lost in the 2nd round of Wimbledon to defending champion Borg after being up two sets to one and leading 4–1 in the fourth set. He reached his career high ranking in singles of World No. 16 in July 1980. In 1981, he reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon before losing in five sets to Jimmy Connors after being up 2-0. He beat John McEnroe in the first round of Cincinnati Masters in 1984. Overall, he had five career wins over Jimmy Connors in their 11 matches.

Amritraj was part of the Indian Davis Cup team that reached the finals in 1974 and 1987. Amritraj had a career singles win-loss record 384–296, winning 16 singles and 13 doubles titles.

Acting career

Amritraj also had a brief acting career. His most notable appearance is probably as the MI6 agent Vijay in the 1983 James Bond film Octopussy.^[4] He also appeared briefly in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) as a starship captain.

He was also a regular character in the NBC TV series The Last Precinct and the Yakov Smirnoff comedy What a Country, as well as a guest star on various television shows such as Hart to Hart. He has since gone on to become a sports commentator, has been a judge at the Miss Universe pageant and has developed a successful multimedia business. Amritraj is the host of a talk show named Dimensions with Vijay Amritraj telecast on CNN-IBN.

Personal life

Amritraj lives in California with wife Shyamala, who is Sri Lankan Tamil, and sons Prakash Amritraj and Vikram.^[5][6][7] His son Prakash Amritraj and nephew Stephen Amritraj are also professional tennis players. On 9 February 2001, Vijay Amritraj was appointed a United Nations ambassador for peace. He has been raising awareness on the issues of drugs and HIV/AIDS and in raising funds to fight the spread of AIDS worldwide.^[8] Vijay Amritraj founded The Vijay Amritraj Foundation in 2006.^[9][10]

Filmography

• Octopussy (1983) - Vijay
• Nine Deaths of the Ninja (1985) - Rankin
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) - Starship Captain
• Of God and Kings (2015) - Duke Bora Swain

Career finals

Singles: 25 (18–7)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	23 July 1973	Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, USA	Clay	Jimmy Connors	7–5, 2–6, 7–5
Runner-up	1.	20 August 1973	South Orange, New Jersey, USA	Grass	Colin Dibley	4–6, 7–6, 4–6
Winner	2.	21 October 1973	New Delhi, India		Mal Anderson	6–4, 5–7, 8–9, 6–3, 11–9
Runner-up	2.	27 March 1974	Tempe, Arizona, USA	Hard	Jimmy Connors	1–6, 2–6
Winner	3.	7 April 1974	Washington DC, USA		Karl Meiler	6–4, 6–3
Winner	4.	10 June 1974	Beckenham, England	Grass	Tom Gorman	6–7, 6–2, 6–4
Winner	5.	18 August 1975	Columbus, Ohio, USA	Hard	Robert Lutz	6–4, 7–5
Winner	6.	17 November 1975	Calcutta, India	Clay	Manuel Orantes	7–5, 6–3
Winner	7.	9 March 1976	Memphis, Tennessee, USA	Carpet (i)	Stan Smith	6–2, 0–6, 6–0
Winner	8.	16 September 1976	Newport, Rhode Island, USA	Grass	Brian Teacher	6–3, 4–6, 6–3, 6–1
Winner	9.	10 January 1977	Auckland, New Zealand	Grass	Tim Wilkison	7–6, 5–7, 6–1, 6–2
Winner	10.	28 November 1977	Bombay, India	Clay	Terry Moor	7–6, 6–4
Winner	11.	25 September 1978	Mexico City, Mexico	Clay	Raúl Ramírez	6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	3.	30 October 1978	Cologne, Germany	Hard (i)	Wojtek Fibak	2–6, 1–0 ret.
Winner	12.	19 November 1979	Bombay, India	Clay	Peter Elter	6–1, 7–5
Runner-up	4.	19 February 1980	WCT Invitational, Maryland, USA	Carpet (i)	Björn Borg	5–7, 1–6, 3–6
Runner-up	5.	24 March 1980	Milan, Italy	Carpet (i)	John McEnroe	2–6, 4–6
Winner	13.	7 July 1980	Newport, Rhode Island, USA	Grass	Andrew Pattison	6–1, 5–7, 6–3
Winner	14.	17 November 1980	Bangkok, Thailand	Carpet (i)	Brian Teacher	6–3, 7–5
Runner-up	6.	9 December 1980	WCT Challenge Cup, Canada	Carpet (i)	John McEnroe	1–6, 6–2, 1–6
Runner-up	7.	15 August 1983	Stowe, Vermont, USA	Hard	John Fitzgerald	6–3, 2–6, 5–7
Winner	15.	14 May 1984	Spring, Texas, USA	Hard (i)	Leif Shiras	7–5, 4–6 7–6
Winner	16.	9 July 1984	Newport, Rhode Island, USA	Grass	Tim Mayotte	3–6, 6–4, 6–4
Winner	17.	16 June 1986	Bristol, England	Grass	Henri Leconte	7–6, 1–6, 8–6
Winner	18.	15 August 1988	New Haven, Connecticut, USA	Hard	Zeeshan Ali	6–3, 6–1

Doubles: 29 (14–15)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1.	21 October 1973	New Delhi, India		Anand Amritraj	Jim McManus Raúl Ramírez	2–6, 4–6
Winner	1.	16 November 1974	Bombay, India	Clay	Anand Amritraj	Dick Crealy Onny Parun	6–4, 7–6
Runner-up	2.	19 August 1974	South Orange, New Jersey, USA	Hard	Anand Amritraj	Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez	6–7, 7–6, 6–7
Winner	2.	19 August 1974	Columbus, Ohio, USA	Hard	Anand Amritraj	Tom Gorman Robert Lutz
Runner-up	3.	10 February 1975	Toronto, Canada	Carpet (i)	Anand Amritraj	Dick Stockton Erik Van Dillen	4–6, 5–7, 1–6
Runner-up	4.	10 March 1975	Washington DC, USA	Carpet (i)	Anand Amritraj	Mike Estep Russell Simpson	6–75, 3–6
Winner	3.	24 March 1975	Atlanta, Georgia, USA	Carpet (i)	Anand Amritraj	Mark Cox Cliff Drysdale	6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	5.	5 August 1975	Louisville, Kentucky, USA	Clay	Anand Amritraj	Wojtek Fibak Guillermo Vilas
Winner	4.	15 September 1975	Los Angeles, California, USA	Hard	Anand Amritraj	Cliff Drysdale Marty Riessen	7–6, 4–6, 6–4
Runner-up	6.	17 November 1975	Calcutta, India	Clay	Anand Amritraj	Juan Gisbert Manuel Orantes	6–1, 4–6, 3–6
Winner	5.	9 March 1976	Memphis, Tennessee, USA	Carpet (i)	Anand Amritraj	Roscoe Tanner Marty Riessen	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	7.	14 March 1977	St. Louis, Missouri, USA	Carpet (i)	Dick Stockton	Ilie Năstase Adriano Panatta	4–6, 6–3, 6–76
Runner-up	8.	21 March 1977	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Carpet (i)	Dick Stockton	Wojtek Fibak Tom Okker	4–6, 4–6
Winner	6.	4 May 1977	Masters Doubles WCT, New York, USA	Carpet (i)	Dick Stockton	Vitas Gerulaitis Adriano Panatta	7–6, 7–6, 4–6, 6–3
Winner	7.	13 June 1977	Queen's Club, London, England	Grass	Anand Amritraj	David Lloyd John Lloyd	6–1, 6–2
Winner	8.	25 September 1978	Mexico City, Mexico	Clay	Anand Amritraj	Fred McNair Raúl Ramírez	6–4, 7–5
Runner-up	9.	9 April 1979	Cairo, Egypt	Clay	Anand Amritraj	Peter McNamara Paul McNamee	5–7, 4–6
Runner-up	10.	23 July 1979	Louisville, Kentucky	Hard	Raúl Ramírez	Marty Riessen Sherwood Stewart	2–6, 6–1, 1–6
Runner-up	11.	15 October 1979	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Pat Dupre	Rod Frawley Francisco González
Winner	9.	10 March 1980	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Carpet (i)	Stan Smith	Bill Scanlon Brian Teacher	6–4, 6–3
Winner	10.	17 March 1980	Frankfurt, Germany	Carpet (i)	Stan Smith	Andrew Pattison Butch Walts	6–7, 6–2, 6–2
Runner-up	12.	3 August 1981	Columbus, Ohio, USA	Hard	Anand Amritraj	Bruce Manson Brian Teacher	1–6, 1–6
Runner-up	13.	1 November 1982	Baltimore, Maryland, USA	Carpet (i)	Fred Stolle	Anand Amritraj Tony Giammalva	5–7, 2–6
Winner	11.	30 November 1982	Chicago, Illinois, USA	Carpet (i)	Anand Amritraj	Mike Cahill Bruce Manson	3–6, 6–3, 6–3
Winner	12.	21 February 1983	Kuwait City, Kuwait	Hard	Ilie Năstase	Broderick Dyke Rod Frawley	6–3, 3–6, 6–2
Winner	13.	4 July 1983	Newport, Rhode Island, USA	Grass	John Fitzgerald	Tim Gullikson Tom Gullikson	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	14.	1 August 1983	Columbus, Ohio, USA	Hard	John Fitzgerald	Scott Davis Brian Teacher	1–6, 6–4, 6–7
Runner-up	15.	29 October 1984	Stockholm, Sweden	Hard	Ilie Năstase	Henri Leconte Tomáš Šmíd	6–3, 6–7, 4–6
Winner	14.	7 July 1986	Newport, Rhode Island, USA	Grass	Tim Wilkison	Eddie Edwards Francisco González	4–6, 7–5, 7–6

References

External links

• Vijay Amritraj at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Vijay Amritraj at the International Tennis Federation
• Vijay Amritraj at the Davis Cup
• Vijay Amritraj at the Internet Movie Database