Anand Amritraj by Richard Evans

Chess aficiandos may know that Anand, the five time world chess champion, grew up on Sterling Road in what was then known as Madras. What they are almost certainly unaware of is that there had been another chess prodigy called Anand growing up on the same street about fifteen years earlier.

But, instead of becoming a chess champion, Anand Amritraj became a tennis champion, representing India in Davis Cup and winning twelve titles, mostly in partnership with his younger brother Vijay, on the ATP tour. The pair were Wimbledon semi-finalists in 1976.

Now, belatedly, the Indian Tennis Association have realized that Anand still has something to offer Indian tennis and have appointed him Davis Cup captain in place of S.P. Misra who was fired after a player revolt. I hope the players understand what they have got in his place.

Anand Amritraj’s brain power is not to be underestimated. As his chess prowess at such an early age indicates, he is a highly intelligent individual with a personality that is the polar opposite to his younger sibling. Vijay’s charm and the unending patience and courtesy he offers to everyone he meets has opened doors for him all over the world, in sport, in business and in diplomacy. He is a UNICEF Ambassador and no wonder.

Anand, in contrast, finds small talk boring and cocktail parties a pain. Patience is not his speciality. Many has been the time when he has tugged at Vijay’s arm as his brother was listening sweetly to some incredibly boring chap in a blazer and said, “Come on, for heaven’s sake, it’s time for dinner.”

Outwardly, Anand can appear spiky and it is clear he does not suffer fools gladly. But, with friends and people he respects, the ready smile and quick sense of humor make him a most enjoyable companion. Personally, I am delighted he has been given this opportunity, at the ripe old age of 61, to show what he can do for the game that has been his life-long passion.

Given the history of Indian tennis it is not going to be easy. Fractious and quarrelsome would be two relatively benign words to describe the atmosphere that has pervaded tennis politics in India over the years. There was huge animosity between New Delhi, from where the Association President, R.P. Khanna ran the game, and Madras where, for a couple of decades, all the country’s top players came from. Khanna could not abide the fact that the team which took India to the Davis Cup final in 1974 (defaulting on government instructions to South Africa) was captained by the former Wimbledon semi-finalist Ramanathan Krishnan and represented on court by two Amritraj brothers. All of them came from the place they now call Chennai.

More recently, there has been the inability of those two fine doubles players Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes to remain friends. A world class doubles partnership split up as a result in around 2000, and although they have re-united on occasion, winning titles together in 2011, it has never been an easy relationship. Most often, the problems have arisen between the players and association officials and it will be fascinating to see how Anand, who does not know how to sugar-coat unpalatable situations, deals with any problems that may arise.

We will never know to what extent Anand’s career has been affected by the fact that it was a younger brother (the youngest, Ashok, also played at Wimbledon before becoming a movie producer in Hollywood) who turned out to be by far the most naturally gifted player in the family. For people unfamiliar with Indian society, it will be difficult to understand how much tension and heart ache this caused. In India, the eldest son has a special place in the family. So much so that Vijay was actually criticized by his father, Robert, when he beat Anand for the first time in a tournament match. It did not take Mr Amritraj long to realize he had been wrong but his anger had come as a spontaneous reaction to this disruption of how things should be.

The fact that Anand was able to accept the way things were and bear no resentment towards his brother saved the day and enabled them to embark on very long and successful career as professional players, living, travelling and playing to together in a spirit of harmony and brotherly love.

However, it did have an effect on Anand’s competitive edge. In “Vijay!” the book I wrote with him, Vijay wrote: “As a student, Anand was brilliant. He had this burning desire to succeed in school and used to come to top of his class in most subjects. If he finished second, he was really hacked off.”

Imagine what it was like then for Anand to have to come to terms with the fact that he was not even the No 1 player in his own family. It says much for his character that he was able to muffle his considerable pride and get on with it.

And get on with it he did, going about things his own way. Refusing to accept an arranged marriage, Anand married Helen, a blonde Italian from New York — more gulps from father before and his wife Maggie realized that, as fellow Catholics, they had much in common. He then fathered two children one of whom, Stephen, went on to be a top player at Duke, and took part ownership in a successful tennis club on Long Island. The family actually live of the West Coast, in Calabasas, California where Anand has set up a tennis academy.

In appointing Anand Davis Cup captain, the Indian Association might as well have made him historian and travel agent as well. With that chess-trained brain, Anand can reel off the result and score of any match he and Vijay played and many others besides. And woe betide the poor airline official who is not up to speed while trying to change one of his flights. There was a time when Anand’s rapid brain left many a poor agent floundering as he said something like, “No, I don’t need to change at Bangkok. There’s a through flight to Amsterdam which gets in at 6.15 am with a great connection on BA into Heathrow….” He had the time tables in his head.

Finally, this sharp mind is now being put to the service of Indian tennis. And about time, too.