UTR’s Stephen Amritraj on the business side of the sport

"I think you’re essentially starting a business when you turn pro.”

Stephen Amritraj, a former player and coach with a rich tennis resume, joins Nina Pantic and Irina Falconi this week to talk about the business side of the game. He gives his take on attending the recent Fed Cup final (01:16), what being professionally really means (10:16), what Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) adds to the sport (18:00), the upcoming 500-player draw California Championships (24:42), his 2019 wedding to WTA pro Alison Riske (27:15), growing up in a tennis family (29:29), and more.

His family tree includes former world No. 18 Vijay (uncle), former world No. 74 Anand (dad), former world No. 154 Prakash (cousin) and former world No. 201 Ashok (uncle).

Stephen played college tennis at Duke and had a brief pro career (04:35) before getting into coaching—he's worked with Rajeev Ram and Mardy Fish, to name a few (08:05). In 2014, the 34-year-old joined the USTA as a national men’s coach and then the head of collegiate tennis. This year, he was named the chief tennis officer of UTR, which is rapidly gaining traction for rating all ages, genders and nationalities across every tournament level in the same system, focusing solely on the opponents played and games won.

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