Ramanathan Krishnan

Ramanathan Krishnan (born 11 April 1937)

is a retired tennis player from India who was among the world's leading players in the 1950s and 1960s.

He as a 13-year-old school student sought and got special permission from the Principal Gordon of Loyola College to take part in the Bertram Tournament open only to college students and won it in 1951.

He was active from 1953 to 1975 and won 69 singles titles.

Krishnan honed his skills under his father, T. K. Ramanathan, a veteran Nagercoil based player.

He soon made his mark on the national circuit, sweeping all the junior titles.

Krishnan qualified for 1953 Wimbledon and reached final of Boys' singles title losing to Billy Knight.

Later he joined and as a student of Loyola College and won Junior Wimbledon in 1954.

In 1954, he became the first Asian player to win the boys' singles title at Wimbledon, beating Ashley Cooper in the final.

In 1957, Krishnan reached the singles final at the Northern Lawn Tennis Championships at Manchester, defeating Roy Emerson and Robert Bédard, but losing the final to Lew Hoad in straight sets.

Krishnan reached the final at the Canadian Open in 1957, losing a close final to Bédard, whom Krishnan had beaten several times in Britain that season.

Krishnan would win the Northern Lawn Tennis Championships tournament in 1958, which included a close match win over Rod Laver.

The same year he also won the Aix-Les-Bains International Tournament against Patricio Rodríguez.

In 1959, Krishnan won the Queen's Club Championships title, defeating both Alex Olmedo and Neale Fraser in the final two rounds.

He played in the men's singles competition at the 1959 Wimbledon losing in the third round to Olmedo.

Krishnan rejected a record three-year $150,000 guarantee offer from Jack Kramer in 1959 after winning at Queen's Club.

Later that same year, playing for India in the Davis Cup, Krishnan defeated Laver (the Wimbledon runner-up) in four sets.

Krishnan also defeated Laver at the 1959 Pacific Southwest tournament in three straight sets.

Krishnan won the 1959 U.S. Hard Court Championships in Denver with wins over Gardnar Mulloy in the semifinal and Whitney Reed in three straight sets in the final.

Krishnan ranked World No. 3 in Potter's annual rankings for 1959 in World Tennis.

He was twice a semifinalist at Wimbledon in 1960 and 1961, reaching as high as World No. 3 in Potter's amateur rankings.

These performances gained Krishnan seventh seeded status at Wimbledon in 1960, where he reached the semi-finals losing to the eventual champion Fraser.

Krishnan defeated Andrés Gimeno in five sets on his way to the semifinal.

Instead of Krishnan, Kramer signed Gimeno after Wimbledon for a much smaller guarantee than Krishnan had been offered.

Krishnan won the 1961 Wiesbaden tennis tournament, including a win over Wilhelm Bungert.

In 1961, Krishnan again reached the Wimbledon semi-finals by beating Emerson in straight sets in the quarter-finals but lost in the semis to eventual champion Laver.

The following season, he reached the quarterfinals at the French Open in 1962, where he led Emerson two sets to one, but strangely lost the fifth set at love.

Krishnan received his highest seeding at Wimbledon at No. 4 in 1962 but had to withdraw after three matches due to an ongoing ankle injury.

Krishnan won the 1963 Antwerp International Championships tournament on red clay with a four-set win in the final over Nicola Pietrangeli.

Krishnan won the 1965 River Oaks International Tennis Tournament at Houston, Texas with wins over Osuna, Emerson in the semi-final in four sets, and Richey in the final in four sets.

He was reportedly given a winner's hug of congratulations by future President George H. W. Bush after the victory.

He led India to the Challenge Round of the 1966 Davis Cup against Australia and was the non playing captain when Vijay Amritraj and Anand Amritraj led India into the 1974 Davis Cup finals against South Africa.

In 1967 Krishnan won the Antwerp International Championships on red clay a second time by beating Emerson in the final in three straight sets.

He won the National Lawn Tennis Championships of India a record eight times, and reached ten finals.

Krishnan, like Emerson, Stolle, Santana, Okker and other prominent "amateur" tennis players, became a registered professional with a national tennis association.

He was under contract to his national tennis association, and not to an independent professional tour, and was therefore eligible to represent India in Davis Cup competition, but also received money earnings in designated tournaments approved by his national association.

Krishnan won the Canadian Open in 1968 over Torben Ulrich in the final.

Krishnan lost to John Newcombe at the inaugural U.S. Open that year.

However, Krishnan had a notable win over the hard-hitting Clark Graebner, a semifinalist at the 1968 U.S. Open, in Davis Cup play later that season, in which Graebner "was completely befuddled by the junk-balling tactics of Krishnan...losing decisively."

Also that year, Krishnan won the Stuttgart tournament on red clay, which included a win over Jürgen Fassbender.