Society takes tennis legend Vijay Amritraj on a nostalgic journey and his plans as the new President of the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association
Tennis legend Vijay Amritraj stands tall, and unlike many others who achieved great things in life and hung up their boots, Vijay continues the saga of creating more and more milestones. Lately, he was once again elected the new president of the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA) at its Annual General Meeting (AGM). For the sagging sport in India, it’s a new ray of hope, indeed!
This former tennis player, sports commentator, actor and entrepreneurhailing from Chennai was the first Indian to turn fully professional in the sport and achieved great heights, representing India in Davis Cup, and playing the Wimbledon against legendary tennis stars like Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl. (He participated in Wimbledon 17 times and reached the quarter-finals. He has also represented India in the Davis Cup on 20 different occasions and qualified in the finals twice.)
Apart from being nominated five times to spearhead the ATP Tour Players Councilas President, this multi-talented sportsman has also been the proud recipient of the coveted Padmashri, Key to the City of Los Angeles and the Pierre de Coubertin awards. He turned actor too and won accolades for his performance in the James Bond movie, Octopussy.
It was a proud moment for the nation when the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan honoured Vijay Amritraj as a United Nations Messenger of Peace.
Vijay has been the most popular tennis commentator for Fox Sports in the US and STAR-TV in Asia. His California-based company, First Serve Entertainment, is a leading multimedia production company that deals with Asian-American content, and helped Disney, Turner and ESPN enter the Indian market.
As soon as Vijay took over the post, he hosted an event, titled, Celebrating Tennis, in which he honoured players. In his own words, it was intended to, “Celebrate the past, encourage the present and inspire the future.”
This story is from the February - March 2019 edition of SOCIETY.
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This story is from the February - March 2019 edition of SOCIETY.
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