Samir Banerjee defeated Victor Lilov in the finals of the 2021 boys Wimbledon finals, with the scoreline reading 7-5, 6-3 in favour of the American-born player.
The teenager made his debut only a year ago, and is already shaping up to he ones of the names for the future in tennis. He has reached the finals of 10 of the 17 tournaments that he has competed in so far. And he now adds a fifth trophy to the previous four, all of which he won on clay.
“On one hand, Samir’s achievement is very inspiring for the Indian tennis fraternity and aspirants from our country. It’s very convenient to claim he’s of Indian origin and this and that, but the fact is, he’s an American. That’s how we need to look at it,” said Gary O’Brien, an AITA coach and currently development officer of the Bengal Tennis Association (BTA).
“You may claim his Indian origin, but I think India has not contributed even 0.1 per cent to all his efforts, success and growth. So I don’t think we should take any credit whatsoever.
“Laymen may well say, ‘wow, see what India has achieved in the tournament’. But the fact is, he’s born and brought up and trains in the United States. Whatever he has done is outside of India. Period,” O’Brien said.
Banerjee was born in New Jersey, and grew up there as well. He becomes the first American since Reilly Opelka in six years to lift the boys trophy.
