No substitute for hard work: Vijay Amritraj urges Indian players to look for singles success

Wimbledon 2025 marks exactly 10 years since an Indian lifted a trophy at the Championships. Back in 2015, Sania Mirza and Leander Paes won the mixed and men’s doubles titles respectively with Martina Hingis while Sumit Nagal won the junior boys doubles title Vietnamese partner Lý Hoàng Nam.

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All three doubles titles were considered huge for Indian tennis back then because singles results had not typically been standout at the highest level. The pickings have been slim at Slams since, and completely non-existent at Wimbledon.

This last week, Indians have had forgettable outings on the grass courts of the Championships – Sumit Nagal, the only senior singles entrant lost in the first round of qualifying, Rohan Bopanna was knocked out in the men’s doubles first round, N Sriram Balaji and Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli in the second and Yuki Bhambri, the last standing Indian, in the third.

These results seem par for the course in the current context of Indian tennis. But that was not always the case, as Indian tennis legend and Hall of famer Vijay Amritraj points out. There was a time, albeit very long ago, that India had made a mark at Wimbledon in singles. Amritraj played 16 Championships and reached the quarterfinal twice. back in the 1960s, Ramanathan Krishnan not only held a seeding of No 4, but also made two straight semi-finals.

Amritraj believes that Indian tennis needs to focus on singles success, for which the current generation players need to step up and work harder.

“The most important thing is to first have commitment from the players towards pursuing a career in it and what is your work ethic,” Amritraj said during an interaction on Media Day with JioStar. “There is no substitute for hard work. Yes, you can overcome lack of talent with extra work, but you can’t overcome less work with extra talent.”

“We do not have any players in the top 100… till you get a bunch of players in the top 100 and 50s like Italy has done, you’re not going to be able to compete in the World Group of Davis Cup or be a challenger in any tournaments. As a matter of fact, we haven’t had anyone performing well at the Championships for quite some time. And when I say any of this, it’s always about the singles. We’re always asked about [Carlos] Alcaraz, [Jannik] Sinner, [Novak] Djokovic, [Aryna] Sabalenka. Everything is about the singles,” he added.

The top ranked Indians in singles right now are Sumit Nagal, at world No 296, and Shrivalli Bhamidipaty, at world No 322. These are very concerning numbers.

The 71-year-old insisted on hard work and ethic being the first step towards changing this. As someone who is involved with the sport in India even today as the president of the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association, he has a unique perspective as both player and administrator.

“There are very little associations can do, to be honest. If you look at a variety of countries, it is a very individualistic aspect in sport to be able to work like there’s no tomorrow. There are two very important aspects here – if you work 110% constantly and protect your body, then there is a 100% chance that you will make it. If you do not work 110%, then there’s absolutely zero chance of making it,” he explained.

“I’m talking about trying to make it to the top 100 or the top 50. I’m not talking about potentially winning [titles] I’m talking about actually being one of the best in the world, to be able to have a very strong competitive edge in tournaments. Maybe not even winning a Grand Slam but certainly competing at the highest level. That’s the most important thing. Today, we are constantly trying to get to the qualifying, and this was not the case 30, 40 years ago. That is the biggest concern.”

He recounted his own experience of playing on the big stages back in the day. “The most important thing is to focus on where we are in singles. I posted a picture on Instagram a few days ago, it was the 40th anniversary of my beating Yannick Noah on the Centre Court at Wimbledon when he had won the French Championships a year before. That was the last time there was an Indian on the singles court, singles at Wimbledon on the Centre Court.”

It wasn’t, as a teenage Sania Mirza played and lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova on Centre Court in the second round in 2005. The 20-year gap is also stark.

“We used to always be the best country in Asia by a long shot, especially in Davis Cup. And today we are not…. I think we have to revamp all of that to see how we can have whole bunch of 5-10 players eventually get into the top 100.”

The key remains hard work and work ethic, according to Amritraj. “You start the game to play and win a Grand Slam eventually, if you’re good enough and you work hard enough, are talented enough to be able to exploit your potential and get there with a work ethic that transcends everything else. That is the only success in tennis.”