Samir Banerjee, 17, an Indian-American, won the boys’ singles title at Wimbledon. A 7-5, 6-3 victory over Victor Lilov of the USA secured the title for him.
A future men's champion?
Samir Banerjee might well be a name you become more familiar with in the future#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/byAEBwBrSp
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 11, 2021
Among the other tennis superstars to have won this boys’ singles title are Stefan Edberg, Roger Federer, and Gael Monfils.
An Indian won a singles junior Grand Slam title last time when Yuki Bhambri (2009 Australian Open) won. The previous winners of junior singles majors were Leander Paes (Wimbledon 1990, US Open 1991), Ramesh Krishnan (French Open and Wimbledon 1979) and Ramanathan Krishnan (Wimbledon 1954).
The 17-year-old was playing in his second junior Grand Slam. Although he reached one of tennis’ most prestigious tournaments, the Basking Ridge, New Jersey native, will leave the tour for a few months to attend college at Columbia University. He plans to earn either a political science or economics degree there.
According to Kunal, his father, who spoke exclusively to The Indian Express on Saturday, he is following what is considered a stereotype among Indian parents by encouraging him to pursue academic pursuits.
“We’re not any different, we want him to do well in his academics,” says Banerjee, who works in finance in the United States.
“He’s a solid student. For him it was always important to go to a good academic institution as well as tennis. There are many colleges here that have a good tennis program, but we wanted a combination of strong tennis and academics. Of the prestigious Ivy League colleges, Columbia is the best at tennis.”
