Vijay Amritraj

[obsessedtennisfandisorder]

If he had beaten connorsin81? doyou thinkhecouldhave won aslam?

was he just unlucky tobe era where borg/connors/mac hogging slams?

[borg number one]

Originally Posted by obsessedtennisfandisorder

If he had beaten connorsin81? doyou thinkhecouldhave won aslam?

was he just unlucky tobe era where borg/connors/mac hogging slams?

He was a great player! I would say that his best surface was grass, so really Wimbledon was his best chance. He was a serve and volleyer in the classic mold. He had a beautiful game and great form. He was not a great mover though. His 20's were between 1973-1983 and during those years, you had Connors, Ashe, Borg, and McEnroe winning at Wimbledon, so I think you are right, the competition at the very top was just a bit too much. He did push Borg to the brink at the 1979 Wimbledon. He lost to Borg in 1979 (2nd round) and to Connors (QF) in 1981, after having been up 2 sets to love in both matches.

[ananda]

He does often bring up the Connors loss. Also, he was outed by Kodes (eventual winner) in '73 WO QF.

[juan guzman]

One of the few players to beat Borg Connors and Mcenroe.

[pc1]

Originally Posted by borg number one

He was a great player! I would say that his best surface was grass, so really Wimbledon was his best chance. He was a serve and volleyer in the classic mold. He had a beautiful game and great form. He was not a great mover though. His 20's were between 1973-1983 and during those years, you had Connors, Ashe, Borg, and McEnroe winning at Wimbledon, so I think you are right, the competition at the very top was just a bit too much. He did push Borg to the brink at the 1979 Wimbledon. He lost to Borg in 1979 (2nd round) and to Connors (QF) in 1981, after having been up 2 sets to love in both matches.

Vijay was soooooo smooth and so elegant a player. He was capable of beating anyone when he was "on" his game. Yes I do think he would have had a shot to win Wimbledon in 1981 but it would have been very tough. If he beat Connors he would have had to face Borg next and if he beat Borg he would have to beat John McEnroe. Yet on grass he would have stood a better chance than most against these guys.

[dominikk1985]

Have never seen him, but his best ranking was only no.16. considering that the competiton in tennis was not as tough as today no. 16 was pretty far away from the top.


seems to me more like a player like santoro who could have an occasional upset against greats but not consistently able to play at the top.

[borg number one]

Originally Posted by dominikk1985

Have never seen him, but his best ranking was only no.16. considering that the competiton in tennis was not as tough as today no. 16 was pretty far away from the top.


seems to me more like a player like santoro who could have an occasional upset against greats but not consistently able to play at the top.

Number 16 is certainly far from the very top, but in his time, there were a lot of very tough players to try and overcome. The top 10 and top 20 during the late 1970's-early 1980's had plenty of great players. So, the competition was extremely tough. The late 1970's has been termed a Golden Era in tennis, in which the Game reached the heights of its popularity. Tennis has not seen anything like that period since. He played completely different than Santoro, as he had a traditional S&V game, with extremely smooth strokes. As a young player, he along with Borg were considered part of the "new guard" that would challenge for the top by the mid-1970's. He was in a James Bond movie too in the 1980's, where he used his Donnay to hit some bad guys lol. Here's an interview with him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7ATuS1yUqQ (he talks about visiting Wimbledon for the first time and he idolized Pancho Gonzalez)

[borg number one]

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/P...-Amritraj.aspx

Even at 33 he was near the top 100, so he had a really good career overall. In his prime though, the top 10-top 20 was full of great players (Borg, Connors, McEnroe, Vilas, and Lendl in 1980 when he reached his highest ranking. Yet, he was known to play his best tennis against some of the best players around. He has been a great ambassador for the sport. He operates a charity and is a tennis commentator now. He has beaten Lendl, Wilander, Rosewall, Ashe, Smith, Laver, Borg, Connors, and McEnroe, just to name some of the great players he has wins against.

[sman789]

Originally Posted by borg number one

Winning! Hah but really that's an awesome picture.

[borg number one]

Originally Posted by sman789

Winning! Hah but really that's an awesome picture.

That was a promo shot from the James Bond movie. Amritraj was always a crowd favorite, known to be one of the nicest players on tour. He had great sportmanship and was a total class act. He does a lot of good charity work through his foundation. He now lives in the U.S.. His son and nephew are pro players now. Even Connors was a bit nicer on court when he was playing Amritraj lol..

[dirtballer]

I'm trying to remember - didn't Vijay's character die in Octo*****? Okay, they won't let me use the movie's title. I'll rephrase it. Didn't Vijay's character die in the James Bond movie?

[borg number one]

Originally Posted by dirtballer

I'm trying to remember - didn't Vijay's character die in Octo*****? Okay, they won't let me use the movie's title. I'll rephrase it. Didn't Vijay's character die in the James Bond movie?

Yes, I think his character was killed soon after barreling down a road in India where Vijay's character was knocking people out left and right with a Donnay tennis racquet (I think he actually used a Donnay in the movie as a weapon in that scene). Great scene.

[pc1]

Originally Posted by borg number one

Yes, I think his character was killed soon after barreling down a road in India where Vijay's character was knocking people out left and right with a Donnay tennis racquet (I think he actually used a Donnay in the movie as a weapon in that scene). Great scene.

I think I read a story in which a player hoping for an entry to Wimbledon that year if a player withdrew was watching the movie, saw Vijay's character die and yelled something like "I'm in! I'm in."

Didn't Vijay have a duel with some villain with his tennis racquet in that movie? I haven't seen the movie in years.

[borg number one]

Originally Posted by pc1

I think I read a story in which a player hoping for an entry to Wimbledon that year if a player withdrew was watching the movie, saw Vijay's character die and yelled something like "I'm in! I'm in."

Didn't Vijay have a duel with some villain with his tennis racquet in that movie? I haven't seen the movie in years.

That's hilarious! Yes, you're absolutely right on the movie PC1. He wielded that Donnay like a sabre. I'm going to try and find some clips of his matches and that movie. It has some really funny scenes in it!

[borg number one]

[borg number one]

Here he is, wielding the Donnay in style here. "Game, set, and match. Hang on James."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHTAbrDX6zk

See this doubles rally when India faced Sweden in a 1987 Davis Cup tie. (Joakim Nystrom and Mats Wilander vs. Vijay and Anand Amritaj)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9m5jncKwvk

[pc1]

Originally Posted by borg number one

Here he is, wielding the Donnay in style here. "Game, set, and match. Hang on James."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHTAbrDX6zk

See this doubles rally when India faced Sweden in a 1987 Davis Cup tie. (Joakim Nystrom and Mats Wilander vs. Vijay and Anand Amritaj)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9m5jncKwvk

That tennis racquet duel is hilarious.

[georgerou]

Originally Posted by dominikk1985

Have never seen him, but his best ranking was only no.16. considering that the competiton in tennis was not as tough as today no. 16 was pretty far away from the top.


seems to me more like a player like santoro who could have an occasional upset against greats but not consistently able to play at the top.

I laugh everytime I see someone say that "the competitoin was not as tough in the past as it is today." It seems like theres a dope who says that no matter what sport is being talked about.

[kiki]

dominikk1985 has no idea about this sport, but it´s not his fault.

Talking about Vijay,he was quitea rare talent in his time.He had a classic, yet unorthodox S&V play, with a lot of touch shots, very easy backswing that allowed him to play winning points even from the most difficult positions.

He beat absolutely all of the big names in the game, including Laver and Borg ( 2 of the 4 GOAT candidates).His talent was marvelous and his moods and personality, something seldom seen in the sport.Yes, he got killed by the Afghan mercenaries in the film of Octo*****...but, hey, with a bit of time, he would have taken Roger Moore spot as James Bond...he was that classy guy.

[kiki]

Originally Posted by obsessedtennisfandisorder

If he had beaten connorsin81? doyou thinkhecouldhave won aslam?

was he just unlucky tobe era where borg/connors/mac hogging slams?

Hard to say that, if Mac,Borg or Connors weren´t there, Vijay would have, at least a GS title under his belt.I honestly think he could, and his best chance would have been the Australian Open, where not many top players ventured in the 70´s.He could beat Vilas,Gerulaitis or Tanner, who were AO champs in the 70´s, but none of them were much greater talents than Vijay, at his prime.

Amritraj was one of the best grass courters of the 70´s, having reached the QF at FH twice ( beating a great player like Rosewall) and also reaching the W QF twice ( he beat Borg in one of those W).

He grew up on grass, and developed the instincts and movements that are of an expert on that surface, such as we know it was on that time ( sliding, fast, not like today).In an era of specialists ( 70´s and 80´s ), he clearly was one of the best on grass.Borg and Connors had to play their best to beat him at a 5 setter at Wimbly; he was one of the 3 players to beat Mac during his magic 84 season ( the other 2 being all timers like Lendl and Wilander)

Vijay´s only real problem, and may be the reason he never fulfillded his promsies, was he came up a very rich indian family and was never hungry enough to sacrifice anything to the will of winning, as was the case with Borg and Connors, i.e.If he had had the same drive as Bjorn or Jimmy, we could now talk about an all time great.