Tennis News

‘Old 19-year-old’ Michelsen reflects on first year on Tour

One year ago, #NextGenATP American Alex Michelsen had never won an ATP Tour main draw match. Then 18, he was not yet a professional tennis player.

But the Infosys Hall of Fame Open changed the trajectory of his career. Instead of continuing towards a college tennis career at the University of Georgia, he reached the final in Newport, turned pro and became one of the brightest young stars in the sport. One year on, the 19-year-old is back in the Newport semi-finals.

“It’s pretty fun. The two best ATP tournaments that I’ve played have been here back to back years. I’m definitely coming with a lot more experience and I feel like I’ve been using that this week,” Michelsen told ATPTour.com. “I’ve got two straight-set wins over two very good players. So really happy with that. And yeah, last year was a whirlwind for me.”

Everywhere Michelsen went when he made his breakthrough at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, people asked the same question. “Are you going pro?”

The home favourite did not want to say at the time. The questions and the instant success were a lot for a teen who had never experienced such a spotlight in his life.

“It was a lot. Just walking from the hotel to here, everyone was saying, ‘Hi, good luck’, all this. I like to keep it low key and it was a lot for me. It was a lot for me, but I didn’t hate it,” Michelsen said. “I feel like I was rewarded for all my hard work. And everyone got to see that last year, because there were many, many years behind the scenes just grinding. So yes, some negatives, but mostly positives. I’ve loved it.”

The week before last year’s Infosys Hall of Fame Open, Michelsen was No. 250 in the PIF ATP Rankings. Now he is World No. 61 and has climbed as high as World No. 55. Last year, the American competed in the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF.

“Next Gen was a good experience even though I didn’t win a match,” said Michelsen, who is second in this year’s PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah. “I’m planning on going back there this year and hopefully going to get some revenge on everybody and maybe at least win one match this time. That’s the goal. I’ve got to start with one.”

A lot has changed for Michelsen since the last time he was in Newport. He has traveled all around the world, enjoying countries like Portugal and eating schnitzel in Germany. He was just in Europe for the first extended period of time in his life and “it was awesome”.

“I feel like I’m an old 19-year-old. I’ve been everywhere I feel like. But once you’re in Europe, after like three, four weeks, I just accepted that I was going to be in Europe grinding it out,” Michelsen said. “It’s a job. You’ve got to do it right. I enjoyed it. I enjoy the grind. I enjoy the process.”

But what has been the most fun? Michelsen’s answer might surprise you.

“I’m going to say when I got back from Wimby, because I hadn’t seen my friends in like, three, four months, and everyone was home for summer,” Michelsen said. “I played a lot of pickleball , went to the beach. It was a blast. I would say that in the last year for sure that’s the most fun I’ve had.

“That’s maybe why I’m doing well this week. That’s the longest I’ve been away from home for sure, by a longshot.”

Newport is now at a tournament that has become like home on the road in Newport. No matter what happens the rest of the week, beginning with his semi-final Saturday against wild card Reilly Opelka, the teen is keen to continue working hard to push forward in his journey.

“I try not to put pressure on myself,” Michelsen said. “I feel like even on the court, I’m always pumping myself up no matter what the score is. Win or lose a point, I’m saying something quietly or loudly to myself. I feel like the pressure hasn’t really gotten to me.”

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Richard Evans, a preeminent voice on tennis & new International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee

Richard Evans, the longtime tennis journalist and official who has helped tell the story of the sport for more than 60 years, will be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday in the contributor category.

Patrick McEnroe, the president of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, introduced Evans at a press conference Thursday.

“For over six decades Richard has been a preeminent voice on tennis as a journalist and historian. He’s reported on over 200 Grand Slam tournaments. Maybe we should add one more because I just saw you in London at Wimbledon, which was awesome,” McEnroe said. “He’s been doing that since 1960. He’s written 23 books, including anthologies on open tennis, the Davis Cup, and biographies on some of tennis’ most legendary names, including two books on my brother John.”

It has been a memorable journey for Evans, who for more than 20 years has been part of the nominating committee for the Hall of Fame. Now, he is enjoying induction weekend on the other side of the equation — as an inductee alongside Leander Paes and Vijay Amritraj.

“I’d like to think it’s the brains trust of the game, because we have 25 people who really know tennis, mostly players, but also journalists like Steve Flink and Chris Bowers serve on the committee,” Evans said of the nominating committee. “It is not uncomplicated, but it still came as an enormous surprise to me and I was very honoured to think that my colleagues on that committee felt that I [should] have my name put forward.”

Evans’ career truly began when he was assigned to ghostwrite write Althea Gibson’s copy at Wimbledon. He worked on The Evening Standard’s sports desk and worked on the icon’s columns.

“I’d already been a journalist for about 18 months before I went in the British Army, doing national service, came out and got that assignment. That really started my tennis writing career, because before that it had been all football, rugby and cricket,” Evans said. “I’d watched tennis. I’d played a bit of tennis. I remember in my uniform in a club in Piccadilly on a black and white television watching Alex Olmedo beating Rod Laver in 1959. Everybody forgot Rod Laver lost two Wimbledon finals before he started winning everything in sight.”

Evans entered the sport in an era of Australian domination with champions ranging from Lew Hoard to Ken Rosewall and Tony Roche.

“I was their age, so I had this huge advantage of being able to travel with a group of players… There were no coaches, no managers, no agents, no wives or girlfriends, except for the odd occasion, traveling the world,” Evans said. “You can imagine the Aussies knew how to travel the world. They knew how to enjoy themselves on court, very competitive, and off court less competitive.

“It was great fun and an enormous introduction for me into tennis because I was living it.”

Evans had the opportunity to enjoy plenty of dinners with the greats of the game. He recalled Ken Rosewall explaining why he was able to slice his backhand to Roy Emerson.

“You found yourself being in the thick of what it was like to be a top-class tennis player,” Evans said. “It was a wonderful school for me. It helped my writing.”

Over the years, Evans has written books about the history of the sport as well as its biggest stars, including McEnroe and Ilie Nastase. He also was a longtime commentator, spending time alongside the likes of Fred Perry and Frew McMillan.

“They showed me the commentary box and put some earphones on my head and said, ‘Right, you’re on’,” Evans recalled. “Nice introduction. It’s called being thrown into the deep end. You can either do it or you can’t. I hopefully got better with it.” 

Evans also spent several years working for the ATP in multiple capacities. He also spent seven years as a foreign corresponded in the United States and Paris.

“But always tennis was there,” Evans said. “I never let go of tennis.”

The chronicler of the sport also inspired fellow Class of 2024 inductee Paes.

“On the 12th of May, 1986, Richard Evans was there,” Paes said. “He was writing Vijay’s autobiography. I walked up to him as an 11-year-old and I stuck my hand out and I said, ‘Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Evans, I’m Leander Paes’. He goes, ‘What are you here for?’”

“I want to emulate my father in winning an Olympic medal,” Paes responded.

“On the 12th of May, 1986, Mr. Evans turned to me and said to this young 11-year-old kid, If you work hard enough, you might even get into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

“Well, here we are.”

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Game of aces helps Eubanks reach all-American Newport SFs

Who doesn’t love a game of aces?

After pitching a shutout at 3-all in the third set against Australian Aleksandar Vukic, Christopher Eubanks held on for a tight 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(3) win Friday at the Infosys Hall of Fame Open to advance to his first tour-level semi-final since he won his maiden title on grass in Mallorca last year.

“You step to the line, the first one goes in, you have a good rhythm,” the American said in his on-court interview at the grass-court ATP 250 in Newport. “The second one goes in and the mind starts to wonder, ‘Oh, can I do it again?’

“You pump the third one and then all of a sudden the crowd starts to get behind you. I knew I was going for two first serves on that 40/0 point. Luckily I made the first one and I gave the crowd a little fist pump.”

4️⃣ in a row🤯🔥@chris_eubanks96
⁰@TennisHalloFame | #InfosysHallOfFameOpen pic.twitter.com/6AxZzySOBO

— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 19, 2024

The former Top 30 player has fallen to No. 128 in the PIF ATP Rankings after recently dropping points from Mallorca and from his quarter-final run at Wimbledon last year. He is 8-15 on the season.

Eubanks, who hit 13 aces and seven double faults according to Infosys ATP Stats, saved six of eight break points he faced. The 28-year-old has climbed to No. 105 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, and will re-enter the Top 100 should he advance to the final.

Eubanks on Saturday will face his Olympics teammate, second-seeded Marcos Giron, who defeated Australian Alex Bolt 6-4, 6-1 to set an all-American semi-final line-up in Newport for the first time since 1985 (Gullikson, Pate, Sadri and Mayotte).

Playing in front of mentor Andre Agassi, who is in town for this weekend’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Giron saved all three break points he faced to move into his seventh semi-final (2-4 record) and third this year (Dallas and Delray Beach).

“Four Americans in the semi-finals is something we love to see, I’m pumped that we’re here,” Giron said. “I’ve known Chris for a long time so it’s great to see him stepping up this week and playing really well and I’m really proud to be teammates with him the next couple of weeks.”

Giron, now 18-17 on the season, moved back to his career-high mark of No. 44 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings after defeating Bolt in a first-time Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting.

In Saturday’s other semi-final, #NextGenATP star Alex Michelsen will take on big-serving Reilly Opelka, who has struck form this week after an extended layoff due to injury.

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Zverev tops Zhang in Hamburg for season-leading 43rd win

Alexander Zverev’s mission to win back-to-back titles in his hometown continued apace on Friday evening at the Hamburg Open.

The top seed and defending champion eased past Zhang Zhizhen 6-4, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals for the fourth time at the clay-court ATP 500. With his 66-minute triumph, his 43rd of the season, Zverev moved clear of World No. 1 Jannik Sinner for the most tour-level wins in 2024.

Zverev powered 22 winners, including 10 aces, according to Infosys ATP Stats, in a dominant victory against the eighth-seeded Zhang. The manner of victory for the No. 4 in the PIF ATP Rankings was in stark contrast to his three-set battle against Hugo Gaston on Thursday evening, when he appeared to struggle with a knee injury he sustained earlier this month at Wimbledon.

“I’m extremely pleased with the level of tennis today,” said Zverev in his post-match interview. “I think it was a big step up from yesterday, but obviously a very different match as well. I’m happy to be in the semi-finals, but I don’t want to stop here, I want to continue and hopefully defend my title here in Hamburg.”

Serving up a SF ticket 🎟

Defending champion @AlexZverev advances 6-4 6-3 past Zhang@hamburgopenatp | #HamburgOpenATP500 pic.twitter.com/fXRDegNzQK

— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 19, 2024

Zverev has this year reached the final at Roland Garros, the semi-finals at the Australian Open and won an ATP Masters 1000 crown in Rome. Later this month, he will begin his defence of his Olympic crown at Paris 2024. The 27-year-old was asked how his season so far has compared to 2021, when he finished the year with 59 tour-level wins and won six titles.

“2021 was strange, because I started the season OK, I was playing well, but then the second half of the season, I barely lost a match,” he recalled. “So I hope if it goes like that this year, especially with the Olympics and especially with the US Open, I’ll be the happiest person on the planet. We’ll see how it goes. I’m satisfied with the level of tennis I’m playing right now, but it takes a lot of hard work to continue on this path and on this journey.”

The next assignment for Zverev in his Hamburg title defence is a last-four clash against Pedro Martinez. The Spaniard rallied past fourth seed Francisco Cerundolo 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 to reach his first ATP 500 semi-final.

In the bottom half of the draw, third seed Sebastian Baez and fifth seed Arthur Fils will play their maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash for a spot in the championship match. Baez pulled through for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory against Luciano Darderi . He has now won a Tour-leading 23 matches on clay this year.

Fils was leading Holger Rune 6-4, 4-1 when the second-seeded Dane was forced to retire from the pair’s quarter-final clash due to a right knee injury. The #NextGenATP Frenchman Fils, who also reached the last four last year, is up three spots to a career-high No. 25 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings as a result of his Hamburg run so far. Should he win the title in Germany, he would crack the Top 20 in the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time on Monday.

[NEWSLETTER FORM]

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Krajicek/Ram dominate on serve, book Hamburg SF spot

The top two seeds at the Hamburg Open advanced to the semi-finals Friday following convincing victories. Americans Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram raced past Italians Flavio Cobolli and Luciano Darderi 6-4, 6-4 while second seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz beat Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 7-5, 6-2.

Krajicek and Ram, teaming for the second time this year at an ATP Tour event, dropped just three points behind their first serves and did not face a break point, according to Infosys ATP Stats. Up next for the top seeds at the clay ATP 500 is a semi-final clash against third seeds Fabien Reboul and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

Defending champions Krawietz and Puetz also produced a dominant serving performance, winning 85 per cent (40/47) of their service points. It will be an all-German semi-final as Krawietz and Puetz face Jakob Schnaitter and Mark Wallner or Constantin Frantzen and Hendrik Jebens.

Bhambri/Olivetti win in Gstaad, continue quest for second title
Third seeds Yuki Bhambri and Albano Olivetti earned a 6-3, 7-6(4) victory against fifth seeds Sander Arends and Robin Haase to reach the EFG Swiss Open Gstaad final.

The Indian-French team is into its third tour-level final of the season, having won the Munich title and finished runner-up in Lyon. Bhambri and Olivetti will face eighth seeds Andre Begemann and Victor Cornea or Ugo Humbert and Fabrice Martin in the championship match.

<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/07/19/17/04/bhambri-olivetti-gstaad-2024-friday.jpg?w=100%25&hash=B91D658F92823C4AC6E02D0CADF76577″ style=”width:100%;” alt=”Yuki Bhambri (at net) and Albano Olivetti during Friday’s Gstaad action.” />

_{^{Yuki Bhambri (at net) and Albano Olivetti during Friday’s Gstaad action. Credit: Fabian Meierhans / EFG Swiss Open Gstaad 2024}}

Sixth seeds Goransson/Verbeek oust home favourites in Newport QFs
Andre Goransson and Sem Verbeek spoiled the hopes of home favourites Mackenzie McDonald and Alex Michelsen at the Infosys Hall of Fame Open with a 7-5, 6-4 win against the Americans.

“It’s really nice. Regardless of who you play, it’s always nice to get to the semis of a 250,” said Verbeek after the quarter-final win. “Whether it’s singles or doubles, they’re always going to be great tennis players at this level. You just have to be focused on what you need to do well, and I think we did a good job of that today. Pleased with the win.”

“I agree. I’m focused more on our performance,” concurred Goransson. “I thought we did a lot of good things today, especially mentally, staying resilient and focused on the task. I’m very proud of that.”

Into the semi-finals, the sixth-seeded Swedish-Dutch duo will next meet Australians Luke Saville and Aleksandar Vukic.

<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/07/19/17/16/verbeek-goransson-newport-2024-friday.jpg” style=”width:100%;” alt=”Sem Verbeek (left) and Andre Goransson at the grass ATP 250 in Newport.” />

_{^{Sem Verbeek (left) and Andre Goransson at the grass ATP 250 in Newport. Credit: Andrew Eichenholz/ATP Tour}}

Guinard/Jacq reach Bastad final
Frenchmen Manuel Guinard and Gregoire Jacq are turning their ATP Challenger Tour success into a dream run at the Nordea Open, where they upset top seeds Gonzalo Escobar and Aleksandr Nedovyesov 6-3, 6-4 to reach their first tour-level final.

Guinard and Jacq, who have won four ATP Challenger Tour doubles titles this season, including last week in Salzburg, await third seeds Orlando Luz and Rafael Matos or singles superstars Rafael Nadal and Casper Ruud in the Bastad title match.

What to know about the 2024 ATP Doubles Trial implemented this week in Hamburg, Gstaad and Newport

• Singles versus doubles team matches in the first round whenever possible by increasing the number of doubles seeded teams to 8 (up from 4)
• 21 seconds between all points
• 60-second changeovers with a time call after 40 seconds. Points should start at the 60-second mark at the latest
• Free crowd movement
• Doubles-only court (when possible)

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Nadal reaches first semi of season at Swedish Open

Rafael Nadal reaches his first semi-final of the season as he comes from behind to defeat Argentine Mariano Navone at the Swedish Open.

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4-hour workout! Nadal grinds down Navone in Bastad QF marathon

Rafael Nadal passed a stern physical test from Mariano Navone with the help of some trademark mental strength on Friday at the Nordea Open in Bastad.

The former No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings battled to a 6-7(2), 7-5, 7-5 triumph against Navone in an absorbing four-hour quarter-final at the clay-court ATP 250. Nadal struggled to maintain his best level for long periods in the match but dug in superbly after letting slip a 5-2 lead in the deciding set to reach his first tour-level semi-final since Wimbledon 2022.

“I lost for some moments my concentration, but I was able to hold physically until the end,” said Nadal in his on-court interview. “That is so important for me. Let’s see how I am tomorrow, but today I am alive and in the semi-finals, so that’s very important.”

All-time great kinda comeback 👑

2005 champion @RafaelNadal digs very deep for his first Tour semi-final since 2022@NordeaOpen | #NordeaOpen pic.twitter.com/JMeCqHNoRn

— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 19, 2024

Nadal and Navone played out three topsy-turvy sets, all of which lasted more than an hour, in their maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting. In the first, Nadal rallied from a double-break down at 1-4 to force a tie-break, which Navone composed himself to clinch in style. In the second, it was Navone’s turn to recover a double-break deficit from 0-3, but he was unable to stop Nadal from clinching his third, decisive break of the set in the 11th game.

The World No. 36 Navone appeared to have taken control again early in the third set, when he broke Nadal’s serve in the second game for a 2-0 lead. Then came the Nadal charge, as the 92-time tour-level champion reeled off five straight games, before Navone again recovered from a double break down to level at 5-5. Finally, after notching his 10th break of Navone’s serve in the match in the 11th game of the decider, Nadal held firm behind his delivery to snatch his 10th tour-level victory of 2024.

“There were a lot of changing dynamics in every single set,” said Nadal. “For moments, he was in control. For moments, I was in control. But at the end, no one was in control! That’s true, and I had a good chance in the second with 3-0. Then I was very close to losing the match in the second set.

“In the third [I was ahead] again with 5-2, but he’s a great fighter and he played a great match. I wish him all the very best for the rest of the season.”

Nadal is this week competing in his first tour-level event since his first-round defeat to Alexander Zverev at Roland Garros in May. The 38-year-old is now on an eight-match winning streak in Bastad, where he won the title on his previous appearance in 2005. He will take on Duje Ajdukovic in the semi-finals after the Croatian qualifier downed Thiago Monteiro 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

More to follow…

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Down The T: Sharky's rapid-fire grilling of Carlos Alcaraz

Who does Carlos Alcaraz think is the nicest guy on the ATP Tour? What about the funniest player in the locker room or who would be the Spaniard’s wingman on a night out?

The four-time major champion answered the same player for all three of those questions, and a fourth one, in social media influencer Sharky’s rapid fire Q&A with the 21-year-old. Can you guess which star Alcaraz was thinking of?

Watch the full exchange of this episode of Down The T below to learn Alcaraz’s go-to song before a match, his favourite social media account and his thoughts on the fan favourite ‘GOAT’ debate.

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Tsitsipas reaches Gstaad SFs, next faces Berrettini

Stefanos Tsitsipas extended his perfect Lexus ATP Head2Head record against Fabio Fognini to 5-0 on Friday at the EFG Swiss Open Gstaad, where the Greek cruised to a 6-4, 6-3 victory to reach the semi-finals.

The top seed stayed dialled in despite relinquishing an early break in both sets, quickly rebounding with aggressive baseline play to rush Fognini’s groundstrokes. Tsitsipas earned a decisive break at 5-4 in the opening set and raced to the finish line in the second, advancing after one hour, six minutes.

“My returns worked pretty well, I was very consistent with them. I kind of insisted the whole match to stay back and give it a bit of a loop, try and get the angles from the very beginning. It worked pretty well,” said Tsitsipas, who won 74 per cent of his first-serve points, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

“I’m happy with how I started serving towards the end of the match. In the beginning, I was still trying to figure out how I’m going to open up the court and create opportunities on my serve. It took me a while to figure out. I kind of unlocked the code towards the end… I felt like I was doing everything correct.”

An 11-time tour-level titlist, who is now 32-12 on the year, Tsitsipas is aiming for his second trophy of the season. The 25-year-old, who is competing in Gstaad for the first time, won his third Monte-Carlo title in April. Into the semi-finals, the World No. 12 in the PIF ATP Rankings looks to improve upon his 14-1 record against Italians on clay when he faces sixth seed Matteo Berrettini, whom Tsitsipas leads 3-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

Berrettini, 2018 champion in Gstaad, earned a hard-fought 7-6(7), 7-6(2) victory against third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime. Neither player dropped serve, but it was the 28-year-old Berrettini who held his nerve in the latter stages of both sets, converting his third set point of the opener to gain an advantage. The former World No. 6 jumped to a 5/0 lead in the second-set tie-break and closed the match after two hours, 10 minutes.

In the bottom half of the draw, fifth seed Jan-Lennard Struff advanced to his second tour-level semi-final of the season (Munich title) after overcoming fourth seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry 7-5, 3-6, 6-3. The German next faces Quentin Halys, who ousted fellow qualifier Gustavo Heide 6-1, 7-5. Halys, 27, is into his second tour-level semi-final (2023 Estoril) after downing Heide with the help of a remarkable point-winning forehand from the floor midway through the opening set.

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All In a Vijay Day: Filming with snakes, James Bond & Wimbledon 5-setter

Many tennis players have done cool things like meeting royal families, hanging out with global celebrities and spending time with the best athletes in the world. But it is unlikely another ATP Tour star will join Vijay Amritraj as an actor in a James Bond film.

Amritraj, who on Saturday will be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, played Vijay in the 1983 film Octopussy starring Roger Moore.

“I think I said yes to the audition, because [producer] ‘Cubby’ [Albert Broccoli] and [his daughter] Barbara asked me at Wimbledon. I said I’d do it only because who could say they played at Wimbledon in the afternoon and worked at Pinewood in the morning? I don’t think anyone has ever done that and I don’t know if anyone will,” Amritraj told ATPTour.com. “So that was kind of an off-the-cuff reason I said yes. And strangely, I did audition with James Brolin from the fantastic series called Hotel way back when, which he was a star in. And so they flew him in from London to do the screen test with me at Pinewood.

“It was awesome, because it’s exactly the same scene, the crew created the entire set accordingly.”

The scene was set to include snakes. Director John Glen asked Amritraj, “How long will it take for you to get used to the snake?”

Amritraj replied: “Listen, I do not want to meet the snakes ’til the day of the shoot. So forget about giving me a week’s time to get used to the snakes.”

When it came time for Amritraj’s moment of truth with the snakes, the Indian legend asked the snake charmer, “So you’ve taken out all the poison from this snake?”

The snake charmer replied: “Yeah, most of it”.

Amritraj was stunned. The charmer told him they always left a little bit of the venom in the snake. In disbelief, he asked a simple question. “Why would you do that?”

“He handed it over to someone else. And he said, ‘Well, if you take out all the poison the snake dies, so you need to have some poison. You just have to be careful.’ I said, ‘Seriously?’” Amritraj said. “And the next thing I know I’m carrying this basket around with the snake looking right at me from here. It was one of those classic moments of adrenaline like at 30/40, 5-4.”

Glen, who passed along his congratulations to a man he called his “dear friend”, recalled that moment.

“Vijay was cast in the James Bond film ‘Octopussy’ to play Bond’s aide in Udaipur, India,” Glen told ATPTour.com. “On his initial interview at Pinewood Studios, Vijay admitted to his fear of snakes so I arranged for a snake handler to attend the meeting complete with pythons. We were assured that the pythons had been milked of their venom prior to their being handled. I don’t think Vijay was totally convinced. However, like the terrific professional that he is, he overcame his natural instincts and got on with playing the role of snake charmer.”

In a classic scene in the film, Amritraj drove a tuk-tuk with Bond (Moore) in the back. It was a busy area and the villains were after them. Vijay at one point took some swipes at the bad guys with his tennis racquet.

“It took three days to film that one minute or two-minute scene and [there were] accidents galore,” Amritraj recalled. “There were 2,500 extras all over the place. And I’m driving in a souped-up tuk-tuk, and there was another one by the side of me. And then there was a policeman in the middle. And then there were two of them with cameras going in the front. I don’t know how we didn’t die, basically.”

Glen said: “Later when we came to film the scene in Udaipur, the snakes decided they didn’t like the heat produced by our arc lights and decided to make a run for it. Vijay’s fear of snakes evaporated and he joined in with us all grabbing the reptiles and placing them back in the basket as fast as they left… A true pro!”

<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/07/19/14/21/amritraj-wimbledon-1982.jpg” style=”width:100%;” alt=”Vijay Amritraj competing at Wimbledon in 1982.” />
^{Vijay Amritraj competing at Wimbledon in 1982. Photo: Getty Images.}
According to Amritraj, the production team asked him to take on the role in 1981, he filmed it in 1982 and the movie was released in 1983. He said he filmed once in the morning during Wimbledon and played Roscoe Tanner in the afternoon at The Championships. Amritraj lost the match in five sets.

“I think the really amazing part of it was, after I signed on for the picture, which was going to be shot in 1982, I think I was to do 14 weeks on the picture. But 14 weeks, I said, ‘Listen, I’m on Tour here, I’m flying all over the world, so you’re going to have to give me time off in between’. But in movies, they cannot do that, because insurance doesn’t cover you when you leave the site,” Amritraj said. “They made a special exemption with me. And I would work for two weeks and went off and played three tournaments and came back and did two weeks and then went off for two more tournaments.

“It was one of those things that is very, very hard for them to do, [but] they did. The fun part was when the movie was going to come out in the summer of ’83 and they had the major premiere, held in Leicester Square in London and with the Royal Premiere with Princess Diana and Prince Charles. We were going to be introduced to them obviously, prior to the movie, and every tennis player wanted to get to that film.”

Amritraj recalls that many of his peers attended, including John McEnroe. The premiere was the week before Wimbledon began and there was a “huge, huge response” to the film. There were massive crowds of fans at the premiere, which helped build the excitement.

“When that moment came in the movie when I died, a guy jumped up from the back of the row in the cinema and said, ‘I’m in! I’m in!’” Amritraj remembered. “He was a lucky loser in the qualifying and he thought I died so he was going to get into the tournament.”

The player was Bruce Kleege, who had lost in the third round of qualifying. Kleege did not receive a lucky loser spot because Amritraj “died”, but he received a lucky loser spot because of another player’s withdrawal.

“When I died in the movie he just jumped up in the theater. He was besides himself that he was going to get into the tournament. All the tennis players got the joke, except everyone else in the cinema [did not],” Amritraj said. “That movie was special from a variety of fronts, because for the first time Eon Productions, the production house of the big picture, I was playing with a Donnay racquet and they created this incredible Donnay poster with all my scenes with Roger Moore inside the Donnay poster. There were lots of incredible firsts for it.”

As Amritraj discussed the film, he smiled from ear to ear thinking back to his days as an acting star more than 40 years ago. It was a special year — not only did Vijay star in a James Bond film, but his son, Prakash Amritraj, was born later that year.

“I can never forget what I learned from it and how much I enjoyed being part of it,” Amritraj said. “Roger was such a magnificent man. He was one of the nicest guys you could ever meet.”

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