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 Two-time
Wimbledon semifinalist and Junior Wimbledon champion
Ramanathan Krishnan is a legend in Indian Tennis history.
Born in 1937, Ramanathan Krishnan was passionate about
Tennis even as a 10-year-old, when he played at the
Kalkatora stadium in New Delhi.
Playing in his first tournament under the name of
T R Kannan, he later changed his name to Ramanathan
Krishnan on his arrival in Chennai. His father,
T K Ramanathan, seeing his son's talent and passion for the
game, resigned his job and took up full time coaching for
his son.
Ramanathan Krishnan went on to become the National
Champion, and won the Asian championship and the Wimbledon
junior championship. He has enjoyed a career high of being
ranked
World Number 3.
He reached the semifinals of Wimbledon in 1960. In the
following year he was seeded number four, but lost this
time to Rod Laver who went on to win the championship.
Ramanathan Krishnan played in the Indian Davis Cup team
from 1953 to 1969 and has beaten players of world class
like Neale Fraser, Rod Laver and Roy Emerson. One of his
best matches in terms of effort and significance was the
last reverse singles against the Brazilian Koch, which he
won after he was a set down, to place India in the
challenger round of Davis Cup (1966).
His number three world rank and his two Wimbledon semifinal
appearances are still to be bettered by any other Indian
Tennis player to date.
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