Amritraj plans tennis academies

Former Davis Cup captain Vijay Amritraj is confident that his plans to set up a series of tennis academies in three countries will materialise soon.

"A tennis academy here (Dubai) looks very feasible. Most probably, it will start in India and Singapore and then Dubai would follow," Amritraj said.

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Amritraj was here to visit the Dubai Aid City and the Dubai Humanitarian City in his role as the United Nations Messenger of Peace.

The US-based former tennis player said the training venture would consist of both elements commercial and scholarship based. "I view sports as the biggest and most effective means of communication," he said.

"Whatever sport you choose, you can be sure of a healthy life, and secondly, there is the element of education in it," he told the Gulf News in Dubai.

"Sports is the world's greatest form of communication. It's so much like music, and it is also a fabulous way of bringing up a child. Sports teaches you everything."

The Indian tennis star, who founded the first tennis academy in India, the BAT Academy (Britannia Amritraj Tennis) in Chennai, said "techniques in tennis have changed so much. The last I played at Wimbledon was in 1990, and that's 15 years back. And things have changed so much since then that I look so outdated when on court."

"There is a need to teach today's youngsters new skills and how the game has to be played. My son is playing tennis and it seems he lies between yesterday's and today's tennis," he said.