Acknowledging that cricket fever has gripped the country ahead of the World Cup, tennis great Vijay Amritraj on Tuesday wished Virat Kohli and his team the best at the tournament to be held in England.
“I know India is well prepared and has a strong team. I wish them well and hope they come back with the Cup,” said Amritraj, in Delhi as Rolex Testimonee for Roland-Garros, the only Grand Slam to be played on clay.
“It is the toughest of the Grand Slam. You have to be at your best for seven matches. If they happen to be a five-setters all, it can be a great test for an individual’s endurance on the tennis court,” he added.
Analysing the international tennis scene, Amritraj emphasised, “The interesting thing with the men’s tennis scene is the pushing of the old guard by the new guard.
More wide open
“Women’s tennis is more wide open. We have got the Osakas and the Haleps, the Pliskovas — you have a whole slew of girls looking at the No.1 ranking which is what makes it more exciting.”
Terming the 1970s and 80s as the greatest phase of Indian tennis when he became the best in Asia and also the highest-ranked player from India to this day, leading India to two Davis Cup finals, Amritraj hoped things would look up.
“The most important aspect of the AITA is to afford the players tournament opportunities, to see they get as many tournaments as they can. You’ve got to get the smallest tournaments so that they can get in.”
Family affair
Amritraj wanted sport to be a family affair. “Sport needs to be made part of life, that a sport has to be a part of your life, irrespective of what sport it is. It keeps your family together if you can play a sport together.
“The best game I ever saw in my life was my 10-year old son playing a set against my 75-year old father, in California. And I think that’s the kind of thing you want to bring together from the sport.”
India, insisted Amritraj, is, “a spectacularly enthusiastic country in sport but I am entirely not sure we are committed to the risk of being a sportsperson because there is no greater risk than wanting to play a sport at the highest level.
“You are much better off building a start-up, even today. It is the greatest risk to gamble everything on your child becoming an athlete. But, it’s a gamble worth taking.”
