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Vijay Amritraj (Tamil: விஜய் அமிர்தராஜ், Hindi: विजय अम्िरत्राज, Urdu: وِجے اَمرِترج), born December 14, 1953, in Madras, India, is a former Indian tennis player, actor, movie producer, and tennis commentator. He was among the first Indians to play in top flight international tennis events and is considered one of the most successful Indian and Asian singles player of all time.

Vijay Amritraj was the top ranked Asian tennis player for 15 consecutive years and played in Wimbledon for 17 straight years with a Quarterfinal berth being his best result. He was also instrumental in leading India to the 1974 and 1987 Davis Cup Finals. He also founded Britannia Amritraj Tennis Academy in Chennai and was the President of the ATP Tour Players Council five times. For his exploits on and off the tennis courts, he received the Pierre de Coubertin award and the Padmashri Award.

Early Life and tennis career
Vijay Amrtiraj was born in Chennai, India to Robert and Maggie Amrtiraj. He was the second son among three children born to Robert and Maggie Amritraj, all of whom would become professional tennis players. Vijay, along with his elder brother Anand Amritraj and younger brother Ashok Amritraj were among the first siblings to play in the Professional tennis tour. Vijay's mother would take him and his siblings play tennis in the courts in Egmore, Chennai. He was schooled in Don Bosco, Chennai along with his brothers and was coached by T.Ramarao. As a child he was suspected of having Cystic Fibrosis and was discouraged from playing. His parents however were determined to make him play tennis. . When he was 13 years old he got special permission to play in the college level tournament Sundervardhan Cup in Jain college. Vijay won the cup and considers it as one of his first important wins. Eighteen year old Amritraj went to America in 1972 and lost in the first round of 15 of the 16 tournaments he played. It was at this time that Pancho Gonzales spotted him and agreed to coach him along with his brother Anand and Jimmy Connors. Vijay came back to India to play in the National Championships and beat the Indian tennis legend Ramanathan Krishnan to lift the title.

Professional Tennis Career
Amritraj's professional career took off in 1973 which was his second year in the tour. He defeated Rod Laver and Jimmy Connors in Bretton Woods to win his first title. He would reach the Quarter Finals of the Wimbledon tournament and the US Open losing to Jan Kodes and Ken Rosewall respectively. He won in New Delhi and reached the semifinals of three other tournaments to end the year ranked in the top 20. In 1974 he had wins at Manchester and Washington and reached the quarter finals of the US Open losing out to Ken Rosewall again. Between 1975 and 1980 he won 10 titles, but failed to win the four Grandslam events. One of his great performances during this period came against the then three time defending champion Bjorn Borg in the 2nd round of Wimbledon. He was up two sets to one and 4-1 in the 4th set, only to lose in 5 sets. In 1981 he repeated his earlier performance in Wimbledon by reaching the Quarter Finals. He would throw away a two sets lead to Jimmy Connors.

United Nations
Vijay Amritraj and his brothers, Anand Amritraj and Ashok Amritraj, were among the first Indians to play in top-flight international tour tennis. In 1976, the brothers (Vijay and Anand) were semi-finalists in the Wimbledon men's doubles.

After playing his first grand prix event in 1970, Amritraj achieved his first significant success in singles in 1973 when he reached the quarter-final stage at two Grand Slam events. At Wimbledon he lost 5-7 in the fifth set to the eventual champion Jan Kodes and later that summer at the U.S. Open lost to tennis great Ken Rosewall after having beaten another legend, Rod Laver, two rounds earlier.

Amritraj repeated his feat at Forest Hills in 1974 when he went out in the last eight again to Rosewall after beating a young Björn Borg in the second round. In the years that followed he reached the latter stages of numerous Grand Prix events but failed to meet with success in the grand slams. It would not be again until 1981 when Amritraj would again proceed to the quarter-finals, going out in five sets to Jimmy Connors. This match typified Amritraj's tennis. He was a natural grass-court player who liked to chip-and-charge, and serve-and-volley. He could compete against the world's best but often would lose longer matches through a lack of stamina. Against Connors he was up two sets but lost the last two convincingly in a 6-2, 7-5, 4-6, 3-6, 2-6 loss. A similar Wimbledon result occurred in 1979 in the 2nd round where he looked set to defeat defending champion Borg, up two sets to one and 4-1 in the 4th set, only to lose 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7, 2-6.

Amritraj was the captain of the Indian Davis Cup for much of the late 1970's and 1980's, helping India reach the finals in 1974 and 1987. It was here that he revelled as a champion and chalked memorable wins against higher ranked players. A do-or-die five set epic over Martin Jaite was the highlight of India's run to the final in 1987. He compiled a career singles win-lose record 384-296, winning 16 singles titles to go along with 13 in doubles. He beat the best, including John McEnroe at his peak in 1984 (in the first round in Cincinnati) and had five career wins over Connors in their 11 matches. He reached his career high ranking in singles of World No. 16 in July, 1980.

Vijay also had a brief acting career, appearing with Roger Moore in the James Bond film, Octopussy as Vijay and in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. 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.

Both his son Prakash Amritraj and nephew, Stephen Amritraj are professional tennis players.

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