Vijay was born in Chennai, India to Maggie Dhairyam and Robert Amritraj. He and his brothers, Anand Amritraj and Ashok Amritraj, were among the first Indians to play in top-flight international tour tennis.
Amritraj lives in California with wife Shyamala, who is Sri Lankan Tamil, and sons Prakash Amritraj and Vikram. He is a Christian Nadar.
After playing his first grand prix event in 1970, Amritraj achieved his first significant success in singles in 1973 when he reached the quarterfinals at two Grand Slam events. At Wimbledon he lost 7–5 in the fifth set to the eventual champion Jan Kodeš and later that summer at the US Open, lost to Ken Rosewall after having beaten Rod Laver two rounds earlier.
Amritraj repeated his feat at Forest Hills in 1974 when he went out in the last eight again to Rosewall after beating a young Björn Borg in the second round. In the years that followed he reached the latter stages of numerous Grand Prix events but failed to meet with success in Grand Slam tournaments. It was not until 1981 when Amritraj again reached the quarterfinals, going out in five sets to Jimmy Connors. This match typified Amritraj's tennis. He was a natural grass-court player who liked to chip-and-charge and serve-and-volley. He could compete against the world's best but often would lose longer matches through a lack of stamina. Against Connors he was up two sets but lost the last two convincingly in a 2–6, 5–7, 6–4, 6–3, 6–2 loss. A similar Wimbledon result occurred in 1979 in the 2nd round where he looked set to defeat defending champion Borg, up two sets to one and 4–1 in the fourth set, only to lose 2–6, 6–4, 4–6, 7–6, 6–2.
Amritraj was the captain of the Indian Davis Cup for much of the late 1970s and 1980s, helping India reach the finals in 1974 and 1987. It was here that he revelled as a champion and chalked memorable wins against higher ranked players. A do-or-die five set epic over Martín Jaite of Argentina was the highlight of India's run to the final in 1987.
Amritraj still plays occasionally and has entered the finals of the 2008 Wimbledon Sr. Invitation Gentlemen's Doubles, partnering Gene Mayer. They were seeded number 1. During next years Amritraj participated in Wimbledon Sr. Inviation Gentlemen's Doubles with John Fitzgerald.
Amritaj also had a brief acting career. His most notable appearance is probably as the MI6 agent Vijay in the 1983 James Bond film Octopussy. His most notable scene was a car chase with the running gag being his abilities as a tennis player.[4] He also appeared briefly in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home as a starship captain.
He was also a regular character in the National Broadcasting Company television series The Last Precinct and the Yakov Smirnoff comedy What a Country, as well as a guest star on various television shows such as Hart to Hart. He has since gone on to become a sports commentator, has been a judge at the Miss Universe pageant, and has developed a successful multimedia business.
Amritraj is currently the host of Dimensions with Vijay Amritraj on Cable News Network IBN. The show is a one hour sit-down interview, on location, with icons from around the world. Guests include Michael Douglas, Cindy Crawford, Hugh Hefner, Pierce Brosnan, Donald Trump, Sharon Stone, Sugar Ray Leonard, Laffit Pincay, Andre Agassi and Stephanie Graf, Jimmy Connors, and Oscar De La Hoya. Producers of the show include Shrimun Chakraborty and Kapil Mahendra. This show is rated the number one English show in all of South Asia with a viewership of well over 200 million people.
He is a Christian Nadar.
Anand Amritraj is a former Indian tennis player and businessman.
He is a professional tennis player who represented India.
He is a professional tennis player.
Amritraj is a non-resident Indian who formerly represented India in tournaments and the Davis Cup. He played college tennis for the University of Southern California where he majored in business.
