After playing his first grand prix event in 1970, Amritraj achieved his first significant success in singles in 1973 when he reached the quarterfinals at two Grand Slam events. At Wimbledon, he lost in five sets to the eventual champion Jan Kodeš and later that summer at the US Open, lost to Ken Rosewall after having beaten Rod Laver two rounds earlier.
Amritraj was part of the Indian Davis Cup team that reached the finals in 1974 and 1987. Amritraj had a career singles win-loss record 384–296, winning 16 singles and 13 doubles titles.
Amritraj also had a brief acting career. His most notable appearance is probably as the MI6 agent Vijay in the 1983 James Bond film Octopussy. He also appeared briefly in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) as a starship officer.
Amritraj lives in California with wife Shyamala, who is Sri Lankan Tamil, and sons Prakash Amritraj and Vikram. His son Prakash Amritraj and nephew Stephen Amritraj are also professional tennis players. On 9 February 2001, Vijay Amritraj was appointed a United Nations ambassador for peace. He has been raising awareness on the issues of drugs and HIV/AIDS and in raising funds to fight the spread of AIDS worldwide. Vijay Amritraj founded The Vijay Amritraj Foundation in 2006.
