Chennai: Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Tuesday evening opened a pavilion named after Legendary Davis Cupper Vijay Amritraj at the SDAT Tennis Stadium in the city.
Speaking on the occasion, he said born in Chennai, Vijay Amritraj’s journey to global stage began with racquet in his hand, a dream in his heart and a fierce determination to make his mark.
When he was young, he struggled with health issues, despite his challenges, he emerged as a sign of inspiration aspiring athletes across India and beyond.
Vijay Amritraj's rise in the tennis world is nothing short of extraordinary. He faced the greatest players of his era, Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe and he brought honour and prestige to India in the international stage, Mr Udhayanidhi said.
He reached the Quarter Finals of Wimbledon in 1973 and 1981, US Open in 1973 and 1974 inspiring millions of fans worldwide.
In fact, his leadership in guiding the Indian Team to Davis Cup finals in 1974 and 1987 remains a proof to his endearing spirit and dedication to the sport and our country.
During his playing career, he has won 28 ATP Titles, including eight alongside his brother Anand Amritraj. In 1980, he achieved a career high singles ranking of No 18 in the World.
He uses his platform to promote unity, goodwill and social change as a United Nations Messenger of Peace. He has worked tirelessly to bring attention to issues such as poverty, conflict and protection of human rights.
For those contributions, the International Tennis Hall of Fame honoured Vijay Amritraj in 2021 by awarding him the Golden Achievement award. Vijay Amritraj has also been an ambassador of Indian culture in the world stage. No one ever, on the same day, filmed a James Bond movie and also competed at the Wimbledon.
For his contribution to the sport, he was honoured with Arjuna Award in 1974 and Padma Shri in 1983.
On July 20, 2024, Vijay Amritraj was inducted into International Tennis Hall of Fame, the first to do so from the Asian continent.
The Deputy CM said the Tamil Nadu Youth Welfare and Sports Development Department under the inspirational guidance of Chief Minister M K Stalin takes immense pride in naming the Main Pavilion in this iconic stadium as ‘Vijay Amritraj Pavilion’.
This stadium, home to the Chennai Open, the ATP Challenger and WTA matches will soon host the State-Level Chief Minister’s Trophy Games 2024.
"Our Government has established the first-ever Centre of Excellence in Tennis at this iconic stadium.
We have onboarded a foreign high-performance coach in tennis to shape our vast talent pool. Results of this efforts were on display as Tamil Nadu had a clean sweep of the medal tally in tennis at the Khelo India Youth Games 2023, where we won the overall championship in tennis", he added.
Speaking on the occasion, Vijay said efforts were on to bring back the Chennai ATP Open, WTA and other major events to Chennai.
Vijay, who is also the President of the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association, thanked the State government for this wonderful gesture.