Indian-American Samir Banerjee won his first junior Grand Slam singles title by beating Victor Lilov in the Wimbledon boys' singles final on July 11, 2021.
The 17-year-old was playing his second junior Grand Slam and he became the new Junior Boys Wimbledon champion with a straight-sets (7-5, 6-3) win over Victor Lilov. The Wimbledon boys' singles lasted for one hour and 22 minutes.
Banerjee's first appearance in a Junior Grand Slam event was at this year’s French Open, in which he crashed out in the first round. He is currently ranked 19 in the world among junior boys.
Remember the name - Samir Banerjee 🇺🇸
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 11, 2021
The American wins his first junior Grand Slam singles title by beating Victor Lilov in the boys' singles final#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/Xc3ueczg5m
The youngster is expected to take a break from tennis to enroll at the Columbia University for a degree in either economics or political science.
Samir Banerjee at Wimbledon 2021
Samir Banerjee beat France’s Sascha Gueymard Wayenburg in the semi-finals 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-2.
In the quarter-finals, he had defeated Croatia's Mili Poljicak 6-1, 6-1.
Samir Banerjee's Assam connection
• The Indian-origin American's parents had moved to the United States of America in the 1980s. Samir was born and raised there and is an American citizen. He currently lives in New Jersey.
• Samir’s father, Kunal Banerjee, grew up in Assam before migrating to the US, while his mother belongs to Andhra Pradesh.
• Kunal Banerjee has in many interviews credited the sports environment at home to his growing up days in Upper Assam, which had a culture of playing tennis and golf.
• Another tennis star to have a connection with Assam, was former Indian tennis player Somdev Devvarman, who was born in Assam.
Indian players in Junior Tennis• Samir Banerjee is the third Indian-origin tennis player to win Wimbledon boys singles. The others to have won the title prior to him include: -Leander Paes (Wimbledon 1990) -Ramesh Krishnan (Wimbledon 1979) -Ramanathan Krishnan (Wimbledon 1954) • Yuki Bhambri was the last Indian to win a junior singles title when he won the Australian Open in 2009. • Sumit Nagal was the last Indian to win junior doubles title with his win in the Wimbledon boys doubles in 2015 with Vietnam’s Ly Hoang Nam. • Ramanathan Krishnan was the first Indian to win a junior title when he won the 1954 Wimbledon junior championship. • His son Ramesh Krishnan went on to become the second Indian to win a junior title when he won the 1970 junior Wimbledon and junior French Open titles. • Leander Paes won the 1990 Wimbledon junior championship and the junior US Open as well and was the runner-up at the junior Australian Open. • India has lately been struggling to create the next crop of youngsters in the sport of tennis due to the lack of a robust domestic circuit. |
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