'Stalwart of Indian tennis'- Vijay Amritraj offers a touching tribute to Naresh Kumar shortly after his demise
Vijay Amritraj offers a tribute to Naresh Kumar.
Naresh Kumar, who reigned supreme over the Indian tennis scene back in the 1950s, passed away at the advanced age of 93 on 14th September. He is now survived byhis wife Sunita, son Arjun, and two daughters -- Gita and Preah.
Kumar represented the country in the iconic Davis Cup on 17 different occasions between 1952 and 1960, putting together a record of 26-20 in both singles and doubles formats. In addition to his personal exploits on the tennis court, Kumar is very well known for mentoring the renowned Leander Paes.
The former Indian player and commentator Vijay Amritraj recently featured in interaction with WION's Sports Editor Digvijay Singh Deo shortly after news of Kumar's demise broke. Amritraj went on to offer a tribute to the Indian tennis icon.
"Obviously so much senior to me, so much of a great champion he was during the time of the 50s and 60s, and he and Krish played great doubles together, and a stalwart of Indian tennis, no question about it. And Krish always talks so highly about him over the years when I played for Krish when he was captain of the Davis Cup team."
He subsequently went on to offer fans some insight into the earliest memories that he held of the Indian tennis legend, recalling how he along with other up-and-coming tennis players would travel to his house in Guwahati to seek refuge at the age of 13. He recalled how they would care for the youngsters while they sought to hone their craft in coaching centres.
"Sunita and Naresh played the perfect hosts. They were wonderful to young players, who were coming up at the time. And we got on from that moment on to be very good friends and continued to meet at Wimbledon constantly during the years of my career of playing.
"So he was always there, encouraging youngsters to come along and take over from what they were doing," admitted Amritraj.