Indian tennis very disappointing, feels Vijay Amritraj

NEW DELHI: With the All India Tennis Association (AITA) deciding in favour of a Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna pairing in the men’s doubles and Bopanna and Sania Mirza for the mixed doubles, team India looks all set for the Rio Olympics this August.

However, former tennis superstar Vijay Amritraj, finds the Indian tennis scene rather disappointing because there’s nobody playing anywhere in the grand slams in the singles events. “You play doubles because you enjoy playing and to extend your career; Martina Hingis, for example, came back to play doubles because she was not good enough for singles. Nobody starts tennis to play doubles you play for singles,” said Amritraj who was in Delhi on Thursday evening to promote Grover Zampa Vineyards’ Vijay Amritraj Reserve Collection of wines, which was launched two years back.

“Tennis doubles is a great avenue to lengthen your career and shows what great passion you have for the game. Doubles players are able to continue to keep India on the tennis map and they should keep doing it. But in the end the goal in tennis is to play singles,” he added.

Amritraj is upbeat about his reserve wine collection which has been launched in 6 countries, including the US. “We recently launched in eight states in US with roadshows in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. We’ve got very positive response for the wines with top restaurants carrying them. There are hardly any branded wines from sports people and the VA collection has already garnered many top awards,” said Amritraj. He added that like he had made an impact as a tennis player from India on the international circuit many years back, his wines too are now competing with the best brands globally. “Many of my friends in Hollywood have drunk my wine and are very positive about it. Former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan loves good wines and recently placed an order for the VA collection from his Malibu home. The wine culture in the US is large and the VA Reserve is being seen as an exciting weekend wine to be enjoyed with friends and family,” Amritraj said.