Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], October 1 : Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin inaugurated the main pavilion at SDAT Tennis Stadium as 'Vijay Amritraj Pavilion' on Tuesday.
The initiative has been made to honour the tennis legend Vijay Amritraj for his contribution to the sport.
During the event, Stalin heaped praise on the tennis icon for his remarkable journey and said, "I am happy to unveil this. When he (Vijay Amirtraj) was young, he had health issues, but he worked hard, succeeded in life, and made our country proud. Tennis is growing well in Tamil Nadu."
On the memorable occasion, Vijay Amritraj remembered his parents, He went on to state that it is the biggest blessing one could get.
"Completely blessed. I miss my parents on a day like this. On behalf of my wife, Shyamala, and my children, Prakash and Vikram, this is the greatest blessing one could get," Vijay told ANI.
Amritraj feels that the government needs to take the initiative to inspire the young generation. He feels that there is a lot of potential to grow and expand even after coming a long way in sports.
"This is exactly what is needed from the government, which inspires the next generation and the generation, after that to inspire them to be the best that they can be. The good news is that we have come a long way, and I think we can continue to grow and we can continue to expand as and when the interest in sports continues to grow," he added.
He went on to emphasise the need to back the athletes so that they can improve and make India proud.
"The most important thing in any sport is the athlete, it's the player. Everything else is secondary. All we can do is, help them. So that when they get good, the tricolour flies. So, it's not what the association does, it's what they do that helps the Tricolour fly," he concluded.
Congress MP Karti Chidambaram welcomed the decision of the state government to honour India's tennis icon by naming the pavilion after him.
"I welcome the decision of the Tamil Nadu government in honouring Vijay Amritraj by naming the pavilion in the stadium after him. I hope they will also suitably honour Ramanathan Krishnan, who is the doyen of tennis in India, and he is also from our city and state. He should also be suitably honoured," he told ANI.
Earlier this year, Vijay Amritraj, alongside Leander Paes, became the first Asian player to be formally inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.