Samir Banerjee, an Indian-American, wins the Wimbledon Boys' Championship
Samir Banerjee, an Indian-American, wins the Wimbledon Boys' Championship
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Bhubaneswar: Samir Banerjee was unknown until two days ago. He made the entire world sit up and take notice on Sunday.
The 17-year-old won the prestigious Wimbledon boys' singles title by defeating Victor Lilov 7-5, 6-3.
If only Samir, the adolescent, was Indian!
He's best described as an American with Indian ancestors. Samir's parents immigrated to the United States in the 1990s, and he was born there in 2004. Samir's father is employed in the financial industry in the United States.
Surprisingly, neither Samir nor Victor were seeded.
Samir, a New Jersey native, will continue his education at Columbia University, where he will study economics or political science.
Yuki Bhambri, who won the Australian Open in 2009, was the last Indian player to win a singles junior Grand Slam championship. He joined the ranks of Leander Paes (Wimbledon 1990 and US Open 1991), Ramesh Krishnan (French Open and Wimbledon 1979), and Ramanathan Krishnan (Wimbledon 1954) as junior singles champions at Grand Slam tournaments.
Although Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, and Sania Mirza have won many men's and mixed doubles Grand Slam titles, India has yet to win a Grand Slam singles title at the senior level.
