An ace called Paes
He’s the most successful Indian tennis player, still going strong. M. S. Unnikrishnan spans the highs and lows of Leander Paes’ career, who recently won the doubles title at the French Open, his third at Roland Garros and the ninth Grand Slam title

Despite trailing in the first set at this year’s French Open, Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy (front) won the men’s doubles title Photos : AFP

Many players of his age may have hung their boots, but at 35 Leander Adrian Paes is still hunting for and winning the big trophies.

Amazingly, while players half his age struggle to find their rhythm on the pro circuit, Leander has been going great guns, with his swift, sure-footed display. His nine Grand Slam wins —third on the clay courts of Roland Garros — are a testimony to his fitness, never-say-die-spirit, and his immense self-belief to deliver on the big stage.

Even a freak eye injury did not deter Leander Paes from grabbing his third French Open men’s doubles title, in partnership with Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic.

Leander and Dlouhy pulled themselves back from a set down to canter away with the crown, defeating the South African-Belgium pair of Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Leander put on a remarkable display to post one of his trademark wins, at an event where he was the defending champion in mixed doubles, and had won the doubles title twice earlier with Mahesh Bhupathi.

Bagful of titles

With this win, Leander has added a ninth Grand Slam crown to his kitty for which he thanked coaches Rick Leach and Martin Stepanek. His total haul now includes five men’s doubles titles and four mixed doubles’ crowns, and 40 doubles’ title overall. Three of his doubles’ title wins were with Mahesh Bhupathi (1999 and 2001 French Open and 1999 Wimbledon) while Martin Damm partnered him in the 1999 US Open win.

Twenty years after he branched out to become a full-time tennis player, and 18 years after he turned a pro, Leander continues to evoke awe not only among his peers, but also among the younger lot of tennis players, who have never really been able to match his enthusiasm and appetite to win under challenging conditions.

Leander’s potential and talent was evident when he emerged the Wimbledon and US Open Junior Champion in 1990, and also became the world Junior No 1. He won the Wimbledon and French Open doubles title in 1999, in partnership with Mahesh Bhupathi, a bronze medal in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, and gold medals in the 2002 Busan (Korea) and 2006 Doha (Qatar) Asian Games to carve out a niche for himself among the pantheon of tennis greats in the country.

He’s the most successful Indian tennis player, still going strong, though Mahesh Bhupathi has more Grand Slam titles to his name — 11.

Indomitable spirit

Only a player of Leander’s spirit and attitude could have survived and bounced back from a debilitating disease which threatened to play spoilsport in 2003. Though Leander, with unbounded energy, was a football freak in his formative years, a knee injury forced his father Vece Paes to think of an alternative sporting career for his naturally-gifted son. Tennis became an obvious choice, as it did not need any body contact. With Vece Paes being a hockey midfielder, who played for India in the 1972 Munich Olympics, and wife Jennifer an international basketball player, who led the country in the Asian Championship in 1980, sport obviously was in Leander’s blood.

In 1985, when he and his family decided to go in for professional coaching, Leander could not have asked for a better place than the Britannia-Amritraj Tennis (BAT) Academy in Chennai. There he learnt the finer points of the game and got a good grounding under veteran coach Dave O’Meara. He left the academy in 1990 to be on his own as he wanted to explore the vast tennis world outside.

A year later, he became the World Junior No 1. At the 2000 Barcelona Olympic Games, Leander partnered Ramesh Krishnan to enter the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles and the outing gave him the confidence to play against big boys as equals. Four years later at the Atlanta Olympics, Leander created history by winning India’s second individual Olympic medal when he defeated Fernando Meligeni, to become the first Indian since K. D. Jadhav (wrestling bronze in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics) to bring home such a honour.

Leander became a national hero, and a grateful nation recognised his achievement with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award — the highest sports award of the country.

Lucky pair

Bubbles of happiness: Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have together won three Grand Slam titles (1999 and 2001 French Open and 1999 Wimbledon) Photo: AP/PTI

After the Atlanta win Leander began teaming up with Mahesh Bhupathi. The duo entered the semifinals of the US Open doubles in 1997. They consolidated their gains in 1998 when they sailed into the finals of three Grand Slam events — Australian, French and US Opens. Leander also partnered Cara Black to annex the US Open mixed doubles title.

A year later — in 1999, their best-ever — Leander and Mahesh entered the finals of all four Grand Slams —French, Wimbledon, Australian and US — winning the French and Wimbledon titles. They thus became the first Indian tennis duo to triumph at Grand Slam events.

For Leander, it was a "double delight", as he also partnered Lisa Raymond to bag the Wimbledon mixed doubles title. In fact, 1999 was a remarkably successful year for Leander, as he also lifted the singles title at an ATP event at Newport, and then beat Pete Sampras to win another title at New Haven. He climbed the rating chart to become the No I doubles player. He has now slipped to the fifth spot.

Surprisingly, after their all-time high in 1999, Leander and Mahesh parted ways, opting to play with different partners. In 2000, Leander teamed up with Sebastien Lareau for the Australian Open and Jan Siemerink for the French Open, but crashed out in the first round of both the events. The magic that Leander and Mahesh wove around their game could not be replicated with other partners, and they had a re-think about their separation. They came together once again, but lost in the first round of the US Open.

The year 2001 began well for the pair, winning the French Open doubles, but they lost in the first round of the other three Grand Slams.

Ever an innovative and experimenting player, Leander teamed up with the legendary Martina Navratilova in 2003, and they hit pay dirt straight away, winning at the Australian Open and the Wimbledon.

Then suddenly, the world seemed to crash around Leander, with his career and life on a limbo. A few weeks after his victory at Wimbledon, Leander was admitted to the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center at Orlando, for a suspected brain tumour, that turned out to be ‘neurocysticercosis’—a parasitic brain infection. The swollen face of Leander hit national spotlight, and the whole country prayed for his quick recovery. And what a remarkable comeback he staged, reaching the semifinals with Bhupati in the men’s doubles at the 2004 Athens Olypics.

Indian anchor

The duo, despite their personal differences, made it a point to team up for the country in international events like the Davis Cup, the Asian Games and the Olympics. Leander marshalled India to two gold medals at the 2006 Doha Asian Games in doubles (Mahesh as partner) and mixed doubles (with Sania Mirza). The Leander-Mahesh duo also struck gold in the 2002 Busan Asian Games. The Indian ace is now looking forward to the 2012 London Olympics, which may be his swan song.

Leander has been a virtual anchor of the Indian Davis Cup team ever since he made his debut at at the age of 16, against Japan in Chandigarh in 1990. The then non-playing captain Naresh Kumar took a gamble to field a rookie Leander with the more experienced Zeeshan Ali in the doubles. The gamble paid off as the pair put on a stunning display to win the rubber in five sets. Since then, Leander has been a constant fixture in the Indian Davis Cup squad, knocking up some remarkable victories along. And if Leander’s form and fitness are any indication, he’s set to play a long innings.