Legendary Indian Tennis Players: This article is written to highlight the top ten tennis players of Indian history. They have shown enormous talent and skills in the world tennis arena irrespective of their genders and have won the hearts of tennis fans not only in India but also across the globe. Below are mentions of a few of the greatest tennis players India has ever cultivated.
Here’s the List of Top 10 Legendary Indian Tennis Players:
Ramanathan Krishnan
Ramanathan Krishnan is one of the oldest tennis players of India. Born 11 April 1937, he is a retired tennis player from India who was among the world’s leading players in the consecutive years the 1950s and 1960s. He became a semi-finalist twice at Wimbledon in 1960 and 1961 and reached as high as World No. 6 in Lance Tingay’s amateur rankings. He was the first Asian player to win the boy’s singles title at Wimbledon in 1954. His playing style is popularly known as “touch tennis”. For his noteworthy contribution in the world of tennis, the Indian government awarded him the Arjuna award in 1961 and Padma Bhushan in 1967.
Leander Paes
Leander Adrian Paes is one of the best Indian professional tennis players. He is also regarded as one of the best doubles and mixed doubles players of all time as he has achieved a career Grand Slam in each discipline.
He has won ten mixed doubles and eight doubles Grand Slam titles. He has a career Grand Slam in men’s doubles and mixed doubles and has achieved the rare men’s mixed doubles/ doubles double at the 1999 Wimbledon tournament. His became the second man after Rod Laver to have won mixed doubles Wimbledon title in 2010 and has won Wimbledon titles in three decades.
He has won several recognition and awards from the Indian government. He has received:
The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, India’s highest sporting honor, in the year 1996–97; The Arjuna Award in 1990;
The Padma Shri award in 2001 and its 3rd Highest Civilian Award the Padma Bhushan in January 2014 for his wonderful contribution to tennis in India.
He was also a recipient of the bronze medal for India in singles in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. He actively participated and competed in consecutive Olympic appearances from 1992 to 2016, and that made him the first Indian and the only tennis player to compete at seven Olympic Games.
Formerly, he was the Davis Cup team captain and has the outstanding record for the most Davis Cup doubles wins with 43 victories He has been chosen as the sports ambassador for Haryana. He is one of the most celebrated volleyers and a talented drop shotter India has ever witnessed.
Sania Mirza | Legendary Indian Tennis Players
When it comes to sports Indian women are not lagging behind. They show equal skills and talent in the world arena. One of the well-known tennis players in the world is none other than Sania Mirza. Sania Mirza was born on 15 November 1986 and she is a celebrated Indian professional tennis player. She holds the record of former world No. 1 in the doubles discipline and has won a total of six Grand Slam titles in her career. From the year 2003 until she declared her retirement from singles in 2013, she was ranked by the WTA as India’s No. 1 player in both the categories.
All through her career, Sania has established herself as the most successful female Indian tennis player ever. She also holds the record as one of the highest-paid and high-profile athletes in the country. Sania is famous for her offensive baseline. She also possesses very powerful groundstroke and is known for setting up good attacks with the ferocious velocity of her groundstrokes. Her main strength lies in her forehand, as well as her volleying skills. She has been often compared to Romanian legend Ilie Nastase for her terrific power game. She is skilled in returning great serves. However, she has a weakness in returning serves. By 2012, owing to a series of injuries, her career got severely affected. She is a recipient of Arjuna award (2004), Padma Shri (2006), Padma Bhusan (2016), etc.
Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi
Together with Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi is one of the celebrated names in the world of tennis. Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi was born on 7 June 1974. He is a well-known retired Indian professional tennis player. In the year 1997, he became the first ever Indian to have won a Grand Slam tournament along with Rika Hiraki. His win at the Australian Open mixed doubles in 2006 placed him in the elite group of eight tennis players who have achieved a career Grand Slam in mixed doubles. He also founded the International Premier Tennis League.
In December 2016, Bhupathi was declared as India’s next non-playing Davis Cup captain and he willingly took over the reins from Anand Amritraj in February 2017. He is also an important member of the Hon. Board of Advisors of IIMUN. He is famous for his big serve. As per Rafael Nadal’s opinion, his strong backhand makes him the best for an Ad Court player. The internationally acclaimed player, Roger Federer considers him as one of the best players of all time. He received the Padma Shri award in 2001.
Viraj Amritraj and Anand Amritraj | Legendary Indian Tennis Players
Viraj Amritraj and Anand Amritraj, popularly known as the Amritraj brothers are two of the best players India has ever seen. They formed the way for future stars as they carried out the legacy of Indian tennis on their shoulders to lead the country to two Davis Cup finals in 1974 and 1987. Vijay, the younger brother, had an immensely successful career, thereby overshadowing his brother’s achievements. He reached the climax of his career in 1980 and he achieved his highest ranking of no. 16 in the world. He also holds a record of 16 singles titles in his career that is spread across almost two decades.
On the other hand, Anand Amritraj showed his expertise on the doubles circuit where he won 12 titles with various partners. However, most of them were played with his brother Vijay. Despite. A historical feather in the cap of these two talented brothers is the semi-final appearance in the men’s doubles at Wimbledon in 1976.
Rohan Bopanna
Rohan Bopanna is another famous Indian professional tennis player. His highest ranking in single’s career was World No. 213 in 2007 and his career highest ranking in doubles was World No. 3 on 22 July 2013. Recently, he is concentrating more on doubles matches in his professional career. Since 2002, he is a member of the Indian Davis Cup team.
In the year 2010, he finished as a runner-up in doubles at the US Open, and his partner was Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi. He was the emerging champion of 2017 French Open – Mixed Doubles title and his partner was Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada. He became the fourth Indian player to win a Grand Slam title.
Somdev Devvarman
Somdev Kishore Devvarman is a celebrated former professional Indian tennis player. He is the only collegiate player to have made three consecutive finals at the NCAA, and he won back-to-back finals in his junior and senior years at the University of Virginia. In the year 2010, Somdev was the winner of the gold medal in the men’s singles event of XIXth Commonwealth Games at the R.K. Khanna Tennis Stadium in New Delhi, and he followed it up with both men’s singles and doubles gold in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China as well. Devvarman received the Arjuna Award from the Indian government for his outstanding contribution in the tennis world in 2011. Last year he was awarded the Padma Shri.
Rushmi Chakravarthi | Legendary Indian Tennis Players
Rushmi Chakravarthi is another great women tennis player of India. She possesses a defensive style of playing. She performed well in 2002, 2006 and 2010 Asian games. She also paired with Sania Mirza and played in the 2012 London Olympics. She holds a record of winning a mammoth ITF Women’s Circuit titles.
Yuki Bhambri and Ramesh Krishnan are two other internationally acclaimed tennis players in the tennis history of India. Yuki Bhamri was no 1 junior tennis player for India.In the late 1970s, as a junior player, Ramesh Krishnan won the boys’ singles titles at both Wimbledon and the French Open. We believe that India will produce more star players in the upcoming years.
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