The importance of being Vijay Amritraj

Retired sportsmen are of different kinds. Some become coaches, some retire into family life, some reinvet themsleves and become very successful.

There have been many glamourous retired Internationals who have been a roaring success, but I am yet to come across anybody as successful and non-controversial as Vijay Amritraj.

Every time I have met him, I have invariably returned satisfied. Confident that I would provide a colourful and highly readable copy. More than that, what struck me about him were his accessiblity and charm, the characters missing in others as famous as him.

He has had his share of differences with the administration and other players during his heyday. Recently when I met him, I asked him whether he is writing an autobiography. He only smiled.

He is very tactful when he wants to. During 2003 Tata Open, he organised a press conference to tell us about the wounding up of Britannia Amritraj Trust, a tennis academy formed by his mother Margaret to train promising youngsters. Leander Paes is a product of BAT.

He said or rather mumbled a few words and the PC was over.

Only much later after the PC did the journalists realised that they hadn't got the answers. They went over to Vijay personally to ask him about the 'real' reasons for BAT's closure.

The reason why I am writing about Vijay is that his role in the five years (2005-2009) of the rechristened Chennai ATP Open will be of much significance.

His rapport with current international stars and with the TN government is very good.

He will play an important role in the success or failure of the Chennai ATP Open. If he could somehow rope in Roger Federer (he said he almost brought him to Chennai this time) and convince Andre Agassi to have a vacation in Chennai, the city will be thankful to him.

And if he doesn't, the hard-to-please spectators would not bother to know where Nungambakkam Stadium is located. With telecast being in Ten Sports (CAS and all). the officials will have a tough task at hand. So does Vijay.