Not many people are cool and talented enough to hang out with Captain James T. Kirk and Bond, James Bond, as well as compete against the likes of McEnroe and Borg on Centre Court at Wimbledon. But Vijay Amritraj can handle that and a whole lot more. A regular on the professional tennis circuit during the 1970s and 1980s, Amritraj also captained the Indian Davis Cup team to two finals appearances. Retirement from tennis didn’t mean the end of moving. Amritraj has moved on to numerous activities, including films and television, sports commentary and serving as an ambassador for his country. Recently, the modern-day renaissance man slowed down long enough for a chat.
Anthony Cotton: How often do you play tennis?
Vijay Amritraj: I have to say not as often as I play golf; I guess in drips and drabs. I played a lot with my two sons. One is 22 and one is 18. My second son just left home for college. I look out at the court at my house and I realize that for the last 12 years they’re the only people I played against. All of a sudden I have no one else to play with.
AC: I would imagine it’s hard for a former tennis player to pick up a racket and hit with just anybody.
VA: Yeah, I don’t like to do that. I like to play when I’m having a bit of a workout. I should really do it about 45 minutes a day at least, to get the kind of workout I need to get, but you do need to find someone good enough to give you a good hit.
AC: How did the transition into television sports come about?
VA: My last Wimbledon was 1990, and my first foray into television came in September 1991. Sky Sports was launched all across Asia as the first Pan-Asian network. Today, it’s the world’s largest network, in over 70 countries and 100 million homes.
AC: Playing more golf than tennis now, is tennis still more of a favorite for you?
VA: Tennis was my profession, my life. Tennis is what has given me everything I have. My life was based around it. Golf is a hobby. It’s a very passionate hobby. As most golfers would tell you, at first it’s an interest, then it becomes a passion. Eventually, it becomes an obsession.
AC: Are you as good as Ivan Lendl or Pete Sampras? They’re both pretty passionate about it.
VA: But they play 36 holes a day. If I play nine every other day I’m in great shape. There are months when I don’t see my clubs at all. I go to Asia and India and back and forth from Los Angeles. I probably do one around-the- world trip a month.
AC: When you look back on your tennis career, what stands out the most?
VA: I took great pride in representing India worldwide. I played Davis Cup for 20 years, longevity was important to me, being able to represent my country and Indians worldwide. I think the actual results were third or fourth in line. I don’t think anything I could have done, be it in business or acting or politics could have given me all that tennis gave me.
AC: You made the quarterfinals of a few major championships but couldn’t quite break through.
VA: If you ask me what my one major regret was, it would probably be not winning Wimbledon. You grow up in the world of tennis, in India especially, and the two things you want to do are win the Davis Cup for your country and do well at Wimbledon. I think I could have won it – there were a lot of guys who won it whom I’d beaten before and after, several times. Winning Wimbledon is everything you want to do. You can work and have the talent and effort and determination, but at the end of the day, if you don’t have that divine intervention, that’s the difference between winning and doing well at Wimbledon.
AC: Are you a fan of tennis now?
VA: Like most people, I’m a fan of Roger Federer. I think he brings more to the game than just results. Tennis has changed dramatically over the last 20 years. If you ask people today who the top 10 players in the world are, they wouldn’t be able to answer. But I don’t mean that negatively; competition has increased. If a top-10 player has a slightly off day, the 150th guy is going to beat him. Early-round competition has gotten so strong, it makes it tough for someone to win every week – Federer being the exception. In my era, there were the Jimmy Connors and John McEnroes and Bjorn Borgs, but there were players like me and Roscoe Tanner and others who played well enough to win regularly, well enough for people to be able to follow. Today, it’s kind of hard to find that.
AC: There are some who say there needs to be an American man at the top to make it more palatable for the public.
VA: I tend to agree. Good news or bad, America needs to be at the forefront of a sport. Cricket is a big sport worldwide, very popular. But it never made it in the States because the average American refuses to follow it. He can’t understand it because Americans don’t play it. But take American football. It’s not played in any other part of the world, but they have the Super Bowl and it’s the world championship. Baseball is more popular in other countries, but it’s still (Major League Baseball’s) World Series. Well, who beat Sydney? Who beat Milan? It’s an interesting thought process.
AC: I want to ask if you think Federer is the best player of all time, but instead, where do you think he would fit in in your era?
VA: I was fortunate to play against Pancho Gonzalez, against Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall and Stan Smith and John Newcombe at their best, all through Connors and McEnroe and Boris Becker and down into Andre Agassi and Sampras as they were coming up. There are two important things to understand. One is that there was nobody better than Laver. Second would be Borg. He won six French Opens and five Wimbledons. It’s too early to tell how great Federer is going to be; it’s like comparing Tiger Woods to Jack Nicklaus. Woods still has a long time before he’s done. Is he going to have six green jackets or seven? But the one thing I always say is that if Laver had played today, with what is available today, he would have been the best. If Federer had played in Laver’s time, with what Laver had to play with, he would have been the best. Champions find a way to win, given what is given to them. You find whatever it takes under the most difficult of circumstances, that is why you are a champion, and not just a good player.
Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-820-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
