Naresh Kumar ( hi, नरेश कुमार; pa, ਨਰੇਸ਼ ਕੁਮਾਰ, نریش کُمار) (22 December 1928 – 14 September 2022) was an Indian tennis player. He was the captain of the

India Davis Cup team The India men's national tennis team represents India in Davis Cup tennis competition and are governed by the All India Tennis Association. History India competed in its first Davis Cup in 1921 but has yet to win the Cup. India finished as runn ...

from 1989 to 1993.

Early life

Kumar was born in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

on 22 December 1928.

Playing career

Kumar played his first tournament at the 1949 Indian International Championships and reached the semi-finals. In the spring of 1949, he reached the final of the

Northern Championships Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

in England before losing to

Tony Mottram Anthony John Mottram (8 June 1920 – 6 October 2016) was a British tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s. Mottram reached the quarterfinal of the 1948 Wimbledon Championships in which he lost to Gardnar Mulloy. In the doubles event he reac ...

. Later that year, he lost to George Worthington in the final of the East of England Championships. He began playing in the

in 1952 and represented India for the ensuing eight years. Kumar advanced to the final of the 1950 Bombay tournament before losing to

Narendra Nath Narendra Nath (1935–1998) was an Indian actor. Early life and background His full name is Narendra Nath Malhotra. He was first cousin of actor Prithviraj Kapoor. Prithviraj's mother was the elder sister of Narendra's father. Two of his b ...

in four sets. He was the finalist in the 1951

Ceylon Championships The Ceylon Championships later known as the Sri Lankan Championships (1972–76) was a men's and women's national tennis tournament held at the Hill Club Tennis Club, Nuwara Eliya British Ceylon now Sri Lanka from 1884 through 1976. History The C ...

at Nuwara Eliya the following year, losing to Iftikhar Ahmed Khan. He also reached the finals in the 1951

Midland Counties Championships The Midland Counties Championships also known as the Midland International was a grass court tennis tournament held at Edgbaston Cricket and Lawn Tennis Club, Edgbaston, Great Britain from 1881 to 1977. History The first unofficial championshi ...

at Edgbaston, England, but lost to

Don Candy Don Candy (31 March 1929 – 14 June 2020) was an Australian tennis player who was mainly successful in doubles. At the Grand Slam tournaments he reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Championships singles event in 1952 and 1959. In the ...

from Australia. Kumar won two men's singles titles at the 1952 and 1953

Irish Championships Irish Open may refer to: *Irish Open (golf), a golf tournament on the European Tour **Irish Senior Open, a golf tournament on the European Seniors Tour **Ladies Irish Open, a golf tournament on the Ladies European Tour * Irish Open (darts), annual ...

. He also won the men's singles title at the 1952

Welsh Championships The Welsh Championships (Welsh: Pencampwriaethau Cymru) its original name until 1970 was also known as the Championship of Wales (1951), the Welsh Open (Welsh: Cymraeg Agored) (1947–50) the Greenshields Welsh Championships and Greenshields Wel ...

. Five years later, he won the singles title at the

Essex Championships The Essex Championships was a combined men's and women's grass court tennis tournament last held at Frinton Lawn Tennis Club, Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, Great Britain from 1881 to 1973. History The ''Essex Championships'' were established in 1881 a ...

at Frinton-on-Sea, England. In 1958, he won his fifth and final singles title of his professional career at the Wengen tournament in Switzerland. His best singles result at a grand slam tournament came at the 1955 Wimbledon Championships, where he advanced to the fourth round before losing in straight sets to

Tony Trabert Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

, the No. 1 seed and eventual champion. Kumar also advanced to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon's men's doubles tournament in

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

, and

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

, as well as the quarterfinals of its mixed doubles in

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

. He played his final tournament also the Asian Championships in 1969. Kumar held a record of having played 101 matches as an amateur at the

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...

Coaching career

Kumar was appointed captain of the India Davis Cup team in 1989 and served in that role until 1993. He gave

Leander Paes Leander Adrian Paes ( ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players ever. He holds the record for the most doubles wins in the Davis Cup. Paes won eight men' ...

his debut in the deciding doubles rubber against

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

during the 1990 tournament. Paes and

Zeeshan Ali Zeeshan Ali (born 1 January 1970) is a former Indian Davis Cup player who also competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. The right-hander reached his highest singles ATP ranking on 12 December 1988, when he became the number 126 of th ...

ultimately prevailed 18–16 in the fifth set to clinch the tie. Kumar was conferred the

Dronacharya Award The Dronacharya Award, officially known as Dronacharya Award for Outstanding Coaches in Sports and Games, is sports coaching honour of the Republic of India. The award is named after Drona, often referred as "Dronacharya" or "Guru Drona", a ch ...

in 2022, becoming the first tennis coach to bestowed the honour. He also received the

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

Personal life

Kumar was married to Sunita until his death. Together, they had three children. Kumar died on 14 September 2022 in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. He was 93, and suffered from unspecified age-related issues prior to his death.

References

External links

* * * 1928 births 2022 deaths Indian male tennis players Tennis players from Lahore Recipients of the Arjuna Award Punjabi people Recipients of the Dronacharya Award {{Authority control