Akhtar Ali (Urdu: اختر علی) (5 July 1939 – 7 February 2021), was an Indian tennis player. He was a member of the Indian Davis Cup team continuously from 1958 to 1964 and captain of Indian Davis Cup in 2008.[1]
Later he turned to coaching and coached the players like Ramesh Krishnan, Vijay Amritraj, Anand Amritraj and Leander Paes. He was father of Zeeshan Ali, a former Indian national tennis champion, Nilofer Ali and Zareen Desai.
Akhtar Ali started a junior development programme at the South Club. The trainees were divided into three categories — under-14, under-16 and under-18. Free coaching was provided to the state’s best players. [2]
Akhtar Ali died on 7 February 2021, aged 81.[3]
Winner of the Arjuna Awardees in Lawn Tennis in 2000. [4]
Allsport Management, a city-based sports management company along with Ontrack Systems Ltd., an ISO 9001:2000 global IT & ITES company, presented GOLDEN AKHTAR, a programme to felicitate Akhtar Ali on his 50th year of yeoman service to Indian Tennis on Wednesday, 21 September 2005 at ITC Sonar Bangla Sheraton Hotel & Tower in Kolkata.[5]