Vijay Amritraj

Vijay Amritraj was an Indian tennis player, sports commentator, and actor. Amritraj played professionally from 1970 to 1993. As a doubles player he was often paired with his brother Anand. Amritraj achieved his career-best singles rank of 18 in the world in July 1980, and a rank of 23 as a doubles player in March 1980. During his playing career he won 16 singles titles and 14 doubles titles.

Amritraj first played tennis as a professional in 1970. In 1973 Amritraj reached the quarter-finals of the US Open and Wimbledon. As a doubles player he reached the final of the Davis Cup in 1974 and 1987. The 1974 final was forfeited to South Africa due to the Indian government’s stance on apartheid. Amritraj competed in both the singles and doubles tournaments at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. In the singles tournament, he lost to Henri Leconte of France, and in the doubles tournament he and his brother reached the second round.

Outside of tennis Amritraj has had a small number of acting roles. His most famous role was playing Vijay, an MI6 intelligence operative, in the 1983 James Bond film “Octopussy”. He also played a starship captain in the 1986 film “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home”.

Since retiring from playing tennis Amritraj has been a commentator on the sport, most notably for Fox Sports in the United States, and for STAR-TV in Asia. Amritraj was awarded with the Indian civilian honour the Padma Shri in 1983. He has also been honoured by the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the International Tennis Federation.