Singular a sport as tennis can be, Vijay Amritraj’s superpower has long been his ability to make tennis communal. That attribute is one of many that have earned Amritraj a spot in the International Tennis Hall of Fame (ITHF). On July 20, in Newport, R.I., Amritraj will join Leander Paes as the first Asian men to be inducted into the ITHF.
Tennis for Amritraj has always been a team sport, as both of his brothers, the older Anand and the younger Ashok, also became world-class players. All three Amritraj boys had been greatly supported by their parents, Bob and Maggie. Vijay Amritraj most of all needed that help, as throughout his childhood he grappled with health problems that made it difficult for him to breathe and often kept Amritraj bedridden.
“Our parents lived for the three of us,” wrote Amritraj in his book, Vijay!, co-written with another 2024 ITHF inductee, Richard Evans. “They never took a vacation. All their spare time and all their spare money went on our welfare and paying for the tennis lessons that, in our case, proved to be the best investment any family could have made.”
In 1973, at the age of 19, Amritraj hit the tennis scene in a major way. At Wimbledon, he reached the quarterfinals of the singles. Later that summer, Amritraj fought off match points versus both Rod Laver and Jimmy Connors to win a significant clay-court tournament in New Hampshire. A few weeks later, on grass at the US Open, Amritraj again beat Laver, this time in a dramatic five-setter aired on national television.
