Anand Amritraj (

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

: ஆனந்த் அம்ரித்ராஜ்; born 20 March 1951) is a former

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player and businessman. He along with brother

Vijay Amritraj Vijay Amritraj (born 14 December 1953) is an Indian sports commentator, actor and retired professional tennis player from Madras. He was awarded the Padma Shri, India's 4th highest civilian honour, in 1983.In 2022, he was honored for his cont ...

led India into the 1974 Davis Cup finals against South Africa and was a part of the Indian team captained by

which reached the final of the

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

against Sweden.

Career

Anand Amritraj and his younger brothers, Vijay and Ashok, were among the first Indians to play in top-flight international tour tennis. In 1976, Anand and Vijay were semifinalists in the

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

men's doubles. Anand was part of the Indian team for 1974 Davis Cup, which advanced to the finals of the tournament and then forfeited the championship to South Africa as the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

decided to boycott the match in protest South Africa's

Apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

policies, and again reached the final in 1987 against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. His son

Stephen Amritraj Stephen Amritraj (born March 28, 1984) is an American former professional tennis player, who represented India in international tournaments. He is the nephew of Vijay Amritraj, and son of Anand Amritraj. Amritraj is the son of former world tour ...

is also an American former professional tennis player who represented India. He did schooling from

Don Bosco John Melchior Bosco ( it, Giovanni Melchiorre Bosco; pms, Gioann Melchior Bòsch; 16 August 181531 January 1888), popularly known as Don Bosco , was an Italian Catholic priest, educator, writer and saint of the 19th century. While working ...

and graduated from Loyola College in

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

His daughter-in-law

Alison Riske Alison Riske-Amritraj (née Riske; born July 3, 1990) is an American professional tennis player. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 in November 2019 and won her first WTA Tour title in October 2014 at the Tianjin Open. ...

is also a top-50 player on the

WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour. WTA Tour tourna ...

.Watch: American tennis star Alison Riske grooves to Bollywood song at her wedding with Stephen Amritraj
23 July 2019

Career finals

Anand and Vijay Amritraj 2000 Wimbledon Sr Invitation Doubles Finals

Doubles: 30 (12–18)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amritraj, Anand 1951 births Indian male tennis players Indian Roman Catholics Living people Racket sportspeople from Chennai Recipients of the Arjuna Award Tamil sportspeople Amritraj family