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Top 5 famous tennis players of Indian origin
Indian tennis has had several notable players who have won laurels for India in the past few decades. Rohan Bopanna, Sania Mirza, Mahesh Bhupati, Leander Paes, and Vijay Amritraj are a few of the household names who have taken the spotlight. We take a look at a few tennis players of Indian origin who have made a name for themselves across the world.
Rajeev Ram
Rajeev Ram
Born to Indian parents who hail from Bangalore, Rajeev Ram took up tennis at a very young age alongside maintaining an interest in sports such as cricket and table tennis. His frequent tournament success began with him winning a total of 9 National Junior Titles across various age groups. He topped his national junior career by becoming state champion as well as earning a college scholarship in 1998 and 1999. He kicked off his Grand Slam career by finishing runners up in the doubles category at Wimbledon in 2002 and even earned a wild card entry in the 2001 Junior US Open. He also achieved the rare feat of winning four professional matches in one day when he defeated his opponents in multiple doubles and single events on July 10, 2009. He is a two time Australian Open Winner and has reached the semi-finals and finals of the doubles category in the French Open, US Open, and Wimbledon. He has partnered with several players such as Raven Klaasen, Scott Lipsky, Rohan Bopanna, and Venus Williams with whom he won the silver at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Laxmi Poruri
Laxmi Poruri
Laxmi Poruri was known for her sporting talent from a very young age. Her parents emigrated to the US immediately after she was born in Guntur and it was here that she began taking a keen interest in the sport. Her father was an avid sports fan and was heavily into tennis as well. This made him all the more determined to ensure Laxmi Poruri got the best possible coaching and after she beat Monica Selles in the Orange Bowl, there was no looking back. She took part in the US Open at the age of 15 before going on to attend the prestigious Stanford University for four years on a full sports scholarship. She became the top-ranked female tennis player in the USA and took home the All American Athlete Award for four years consecutively. She is the first Indian American to compete in the WTA tour and after graduating from college, she took part in multiple tournaments before finally hanging up her boots. Her post-retirement life was quite eventful. She completed an MBA at McGill University and worked at Wall Street for a few years before finally settling down in Texas where she works with a law firm as of today.
Anastasia Malhotra
Anastasia Malhotra
Originally born to a Japanese mother and an Indian father, Anastasia Malhotra moved to the United Kingdom at the age of three where she began her tennis career. Her father who is also a former professional player was her first coach and trained her before she took up the game professionally. Her debut came in October 2005 and she roped in to be part of the Yonex Advisory Staff in 2009. She has taken part in tournaments in the ITF circuit with several of her competitions coming in places like Delhi, Darmsdat, Yeong Wol, and Hyogo. Her career-high ranking as of today has been 449. Off the court, she has taken part in TV Shows, modelling and has done various sports advisory roles as well.
Astra Sharma
Astra Sharma
Born to an Indian father and a Singaporean Chinese mother who were both top athletes during their youth, Astra Sharma took up tennis at an early age before heading to Vanderbilt University to pursue her sports career. She became the South East conference player of the year in 2017 before winning All American Honours in the doubles and singles tennis categories. She is currently just 22 and has an impressive career-high ranking of 89 in the Singles category and 108 in the doubles category. She has competed at all the Grand Slam events and has won her first title in 2015 in the ITF Circuit tour in Egypt. Her coaches both in the US and Australia have praised her attitude, work ethic and rate her highly in the professional tennis circuit.
Shikha Uberoi
Shikha Uberoi
Being one of 5 sisters, all of whom excelled at the same sport, Neha Uberoi took up tennis when she was just five alongside her four other sisters. She was an Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2003 and took a break from Princeton University for six years to pursue sports full time. Together with her sister, Shikha Uberoi, she has finished Runners Up at several tournaments such as the Sunfeast Open and Guangzhou Open. Her career-high singles ranking was 196 and doubles was 107. Neha Uberoi has also competed at the Australian Open, Us Open, and ITF tournaments such as the Cincinnati Masters and Bank of West Classics. She retired in 2008, completed her degree in sociology from Princeton University, and thereafter became a full-time fitness blogger.
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