Ramesh Krishnan (born 5 June 1961) is an Indian tennis coach and former professional tennis player.[1] As a junior player in the late 1970s, he won the singles titles at both, Wimbledon and the French Open. He went on to reach three Grand Slam quarterfinals in the 1980s and was a part of the Indian team captained by Vijay Amritraj which reached the final of the Davis Cup in 1987 against Sweden. Krishnan also beat then-world No. 1, Mats Wilander, at the 1989 Australian Open. He became India's Davis Cup captain in 2007.

Ramesh Krishnan
Ramanathan Krishnan and Ramesh Krishnan called on the Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Dr. M.S. Gill, in New Delhi, 26 November 2009.
Country (sports) India
ResidenceMadras, India
Born (1961-06-05) 5 June 1961 (age 63)
Madras, India
Height1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Turned pro1978
Retired1993
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money$1,262,330
Singles
Career record319–285
Career titles8
Highest rankingNo. 23 (28 January 1985)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open3R (1983, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1989)
French Open3R (1982)
WimbledonQF (1986)
US OpenQF (1981, 1987)
Doubles
Career record36–69
Career titles1
Highest rankingNo. 114 (14 September 1987)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open2R (1988)
French Open1R (1979, 1981)
WimbledonQ1 (1978, 1979)
US Open2R (1987)
Other doubles tournaments
Olympic GamesQF (1992)
Team competitions
Davis CupF (1987)
Last updated on: 24 August 2022.

Early life

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Ramesh was born in Madras,[2] India, and is the son of Ramanathan Krishnan who reached the Wimbledon semifinal twice in the 1960s. Ramesh emulated an achievement of his father's by winning the Wimbledon junior title in 1979. He also won the French Open junior title that year, achieving what would be called Junior Channel Slam, and was ranked the No. 1 junior player in the world.

Career

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At the senior level, Ramesh reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon once (1986) and the US Open twice (1981 and 1987). He was admired for his touch, anticipation and all-round game, but his lack of a killer stroke or a strong service kept him from reaching the very top of the men's game.

Ramesh was a key member of the Indian team which reached the Davis Cup final in 1987. In the semifinals against Australia, he beat John Fitzgerald in four sets the opening singles match, and then defeated Wally Masur in straight sets the decisive fifth rubber to give India a 3–2 victory. However, in the final against Sweden, India was defeated 5–0 with Krishnan losing two singles matches to Mats Wilander and Anders Järryd and with the Indian team managing to win only one set. Ramesh was a stalwart on India's Davis Cup team from 1977 to 1993, compiling a 29–21 winning record (23–19 in singles and 6–2 in doubles).[citation needed]

At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Ramesh reached the men's doubles quarterfinals partnering Leander Paes.[citation needed]

Ramesh retired from the professional tour in 1993. Over the course of his career, he won eight top-level singles titles and one doubles title; he also won four challenger singles titles (defeating the teenage Andre Agassi in the Schenectady final in 1986). His career-high singles ranking was world No. 23, in January 1985.[citation needed]

In 1998, Ramesh was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in recognition of his achievements and contributions to Indian tennis.[3]

Ramesh runs a tennis academy in Chennai, set up along the lines of similar institutions in the United States. He became India Davis Cup team captain in January 2007.[4]

ATP career finals

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Singles: 12 (8 titles, 4 runner-ups)

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Legend
Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters 1000 Series (0–0)
ATP 500 Series (0–0)
ATP 250 Series (8–4)
Finals by surface
Hard (5–2)
Clay (1–0)
Grass (0–1)
Carpet (2–1)
Finals by setting
Outdoors (6–3)
Indoors (2–1)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Nov 1981 Manila, Philippines Grand Prix Carpet   Ivan Dupasquier 6–4, 6–4
Win 2–0 Jul 1982 Stuttgart, West Germany Grand Prix Clay   Sandy Mayer 5–7, 6–3, 6–3, 7–6(8–6)
Win 3–0 Mar 1984 Metz, France Grand Prix Carpet   Jan Gunnarsson 6–3, 6–3
Loss 3–1 Oct 1985 Cologne, West Germany Grand Prix Carpet   Peter Lundgren 3–6, 2–6
Win 4–1 Oct 1986 Tokyo Outdoor, Japan Grand Prix Hard   Johan Carlsson 6–3, 6–1
Win 5–1 Nov 1986 Hong Kong, Hong Kong Grand Prix Hard   Andres Gomez 7–6, 6–0, 7–5
Win 6–1 Jan 1988 Wellington, New Zealand Grand Prix Hard   Andrei Chesnokov 6–7(7–9), 6–0, 6–4, 6–3
Loss 6–2 Jan 1988 Auckland, New Zealand Grand Prix Hard   Amos Mansdorf 3–6, 4–6
Loss 6–3 Jun 1988 Bristol, United Kingdom Grand Prix Grass   Christian Saceanu 4–6, 6–2, 2–6
Loss 6–4 Aug 1988 Rye Brook, United States Grand Prix Hard   Milan Srejber 2–6, 6–7(4–7)
Win 7–4 Jan 1989 Auckland, New Zealand Grand Prix Hard   Amos Mansdorf 6–4, 6–0
Win 8–4 Aug 1990 Schenectady, United States World Series Hard   Kelly Evernden 6–1, 6–1

Doubles: 1 (1 title)

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Legend
Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters 1000 Series (0–0)
ATP 500 Series (0–0)
ATP 250 Series (1–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (1–0)
Finals by setting
Outdoors (0–0)
Indoors (1–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Mar 1987 Nancy, France Grand Prix Carpet   Claudio Mezzadri   Grant Connell
  Larry Scott
6–4, 6–4

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

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Singles: 4 (4–0)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (4–0)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (4–0)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Jul 1986 Schenectady, United States Challenger Hard   Andre Agassi 6–2, 6–3
Win 2–0 Apr 1987 Nagoya, Japan Challenger Hard   Jay Lapidus 6–3, 6–0
Win 3–0 Apr 1989 Nagoya, Japan Challenger Hard   Jonathan Canter 6–1, 6–3
Win 4–0 Apr 1990 Nagoya, Japan Challenger Hard   Brian Garrow 6–2, 6–4

Doubles: 1 (0–1)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (0–1)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (0–1)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Apr 1989 Nagoya, Japan Challenger Hard   Jonathan Canter   John Letts
  Bruce Man-Son-Hing
5–7, 6–4, 0–6

Junior Grand Slam finals

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Singles: 2 (2 titles)

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Result Year Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Win 1979 French Open Clay   Ben Testerman 2–6, 6–1, 6–0
Win 1979 Wimbledon Grass   David Siegler 6–0, 6–2

Performance timeline

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Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

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Tournament 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A 1R A A A 3R 3R A A 3R 3R 3R 2R 2R A A 0 / 8 9–8 53%
French Open A 2R A 1R 3R 1R 1R A 1R A 1R A 1R A A Q1 0 / 8 3–8 27%
Wimbledon Q3 1R 3R A 3R 1R 3R 3R QF 2R 2R 1R 2R A Q1 Q1 0 / 11 15–11 58%
US Open A 2R 2R QF 1R 1R 2R 1R 3R QF 2R 1R 1R 1R Q1 Q3 0 / 13 14–13 52%
Win–loss 0–0 2–4 3–2 4–2 4–3 1–4 4–4 2–2 6–3 6–3 4–4 2–3 2–4 1–2 0–0 0–0 0 / 40 41–40 51%
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells A A A A A A A A A 1R 1R 1R 1R A A A 0 / 4 0–4 0%
Miami A A A A A A A A A 2R 4R 3R 2R 2R 2R 3R 0 / 7 10–7 59%
Monte Carlo A A A A 1R A A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Hamburg A A A 1R 1R A A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 2 0–2 0%
Rome A A A 1R A A 1R A 2R A A A A A A A 0 / 3 1–3 25%
Canada A A A QF 3R 2R A QF 2R 2R 1R A 3R 1R Q2 A 0 / 9 13–9 59%
Cincinnati A A A 2R 2R 1R 3R 1R 1R 2R 2R 3R 1R 1R A A 0 / 11 8–11 42%
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 4–4 3–4 1–2 2–2 3–2 2–3 3–4 4–4 4–3 3–4 1–3 1–1 1–1 0 / 37 32–37 0%

Career highlights

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  • 1979 – Wimbledon and French Open junior singles champion.
  • 1981 – Reached the quarterfinals of the US Open.
  • 1981 – Won his first ATP singles title in Manila.
  • 1986 – Reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon.
  • 1986 – Won the Japan Open.
  • 1987 – Reached the quarterfinals of 1987 South Australian Open and 1987 Heineken Open in back to back weeks in January.
  • 1987 – Reached the quarterfinals of the US Open.
  • 1987 – Member of the Indian team which reached the final of the Davis Cup. (Krishnan won the decisive singles rubber against Australia in the semifinals. India went on to lose to Sweden in the final.)
  • 1988 – Won the Wellington Open; runner-up in the ATP Auckland Open, Bristol Open and Rye Brook (New York) Open.
  • 1989 – Defeated the then world No. 1, Mats Wilander, in the second round of the Australian Open.
  • 1989 – Won the Auckland Open, reached the quarterfinals of the Schenectady Open and Washington DC Open in back to back weeks in July. He reached the quarterfinals of the 1989 Livingston Open.
  • 1990 – Won the Schenectady Open and reached the semifinals of the 1990 Heineken Open.
  • 1991 – Reached the quarterfinals of the Wellington Open.
  • 1992 – Reached the semifinals of the Singapore Open.
  • 1992 – Reached the quarterfinals of the men's doubles competition at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona with Leander Paes.

References

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  1. ^ "Top Male Tennis Players of India through History". Times of India. Archived from the original on 6 January 2015. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  2. ^ "Pride of Chennai - A list of people that make Chennai proud". Itz Chennai. January 2012. Archived from the original on 8 November 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  3. ^ "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  4. ^ "Krishnan Tennis Centre". Archived from the original on 15 August 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
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