Tennis : Top 10 Indian tennis players of all-time

# Vijay Amritraj

Vijay Amritraj - Won an impressive 5 matches against Jimmy Connors

The first Indian player to turn professional, Vijay Amritraj was the mainstay of Indian tennis in the 1970's. Vijay made headlines when he made the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon Championships in the year 1973. He beat 7th seeded Australian Owen Davidson in the fourth round. In the quarterfinals, he lost to eventual champion Jan Kodes in an epic 5 set clash. What followed in the second half of the season was another quarter-final appearance at the US Open. In the third round, Amritraj claimed the biggest scalp of his career as he beat the great Rod Laver in 5 sets. He lost to another Australian Ken Rosewall in the quarter-finals. Amritaj was part of the Indian Davis Cup team which made the finals in 1974 and 1987. In 1981, Amritraj again matched his best result at a Grand Slam event making the quarter-finals of the Wimbledon Championships for the second time. He lost in the quarter-finals to Jimmy Connors despite having a 2 set lead. Amritraj attained a career-high ranking of World Number 16 in that year.

In his career, Amritraj registered wins against some of the top players like Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, Rod Laver, Brian Teacher and John McEnroe. He had an impressive 5-6 win-loss record against Connors.

Post retirement, Amritraj has had a successful acting career. Amritraj is also a well-known tennis expert has been the 'Voice of Wimbledon' in the Indian sub-continent for over three decades. Currently, Amritraj is the President of the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association and has big plans to host a WTA tournament in Chennai in the next couple of years.