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Vijay Amritraj on when he began and the role of his mother in his life
Vijay begins with an anecdote.
I was playing a tournament in New Hampshire (New England) in 1973. Rod Laver and Jimmy Connors were playing too. First, tennis was a white sport (back then). Second, the entire hotel, where the tournament was held, was full of elderly white Americans. Dinner at night was a coat and tie event. I was 19. I wasn't able to wear coats and ties constantly. So, I would come down for dinner in a Madras shirt, jeans and Kolhapuri Chappals. As I walked across, I felt the eyes of the room pierce the back of my head.
Then I won on Monday, Tuesday and in the quarters I beat Laver after being down several match points. In the final, I ended up playing Connors, who had me 2-5 in the third set, with two match points. There were about 8000 people in that beautiful setting, all white, and I would say only two in the crowd were for Connors. I ended up winning and when I came for dinner that evening, several of the people in the room were wearing chappals.
I draw the analogy for the simple reason that there are lots of things that can be overcome by the way you are and the way you are able to get into the minds of people and what they like to believe.
Coat and tie was the expectation. It was my fault that I didn't have it. It was nothing but economics for me at that point in time.
You know where you come from, the way you are and the belief you have in yourself and the dreams that get you this far.You are coming from the late 60s, early 70s Madras to a world that you are not exposed to at all. Then to go there and compete with the best without having anything of what they had or what they grew up with .........That's what sports taught me, that you can compete at the highest level and win, because I'm good enough to do that. It wasn't a question of whether I was black or white, Christian, Muslim or Hindu, but whether I was good enough.
My mother was a wonderfully ordinary person, who did extraordinary things with my life. She used to always tell us, don't ever complain, just make sure you're the best. So, in 1972 on Christmas day when I won the Nationals for the first time beating Ramanathan Krishnan in Kolkata, and Anand (Amritraj) and I won the doubles and my younger brother, Ashok, won the juniors all on the same day, it didn't matter what colour or religion or language you spoke. I think mom's words are very relevant.
She ensured we were focussed on being the best in what we were doing.
When people like that get the opportunity to tell a child who wasn't good enough that you have to be good enough to be able to do this, the transformation they evoke in the child is just unbelievable.
The child reaches for the stars.
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Excerpts from The Times of india of 5 April 2026
