Leander Paes and his inspiring career, one who has done yeoman service for Indian tennis

Every once in a way comes to Indian sports a talent who would be spoken of richly and who would end up being an icon, nay a legend before long. One name that would immediately come to mind is Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, who simply enriched Indian cricket in his own right. Almost around the same time as the cricket maestro, there arrived a talent carrying great dreams in the sport of tennis. We are talking of none else than Leander Adrian Paes, someone who had a special place in Indian tennis, as any sports lover, not a tennis fan alone, would vouch was a sensational talent. A player, who demanded attention and was destined to become great, sure enough, Paes has scaled a peak of his own in terms of his sparkling achievements that made him and the country proud. That he has just turned 50 is what makes one surprised!

Surprised because all his grandiose achievements still appear so fresh. How time flies! It seemed just the other day that one had picturised Paes standing on the podium in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games with a bronze medal around his neck and an emotional look on his face as he looked up at the Indian national flag rising up. No other Indian since 1952 had till then achieved this landmark of an individual Olympic medal, and here he was all of 23 years, a picture of poise, experiencing one of those rare moments of his budding sports career. Paes had since then been a source of unalloyed joy for Indian tennis fans thanks to his playing skills that kept upgrading as the years went by.

One remembers his early days, the time at the Britannia Amritraj Tennis Academy in Chennai, where began it can be said the tennis life of this gifted player fresh from Kolkata. Not surprising that he took to the sport like a fish to water, for after all, sporting genes were very much there in his blood through his parents, Dr Vece Paes, a sports medicine doctor but, more importantly, was a member of the Indian hockey team that won a bronze medal at the 1972 Munich Olympics and mother Jennifer who was a national basketball player and captained the national team in 1982. Even in that early phase, Dave O’Meara, the chief coach at the BAT, saw in this lad abundant energy and talent that looked special. Someone as he found out, who had a hunger for success even at that tiny age. And we all have seen how Paes blossomed into a top-flight player who proved a worthy successor to that great tradition that the Krishnans and Amritraj brothers among others had set in Indian tennis.

Still, it is always interesting to go back and recall all that he had done. Indeed, Paes himself would have taken the trip down memory lane on his landmark birthday. As he once said in an interview with a leading sports magazine, it was always a dream of his to prove to the world that Indians can be world beaters. Surely did he not be a fine example of that in his illustrious career? The junior Wimbledon and the US Open junior titles set him apart early in life and, what is more, catapulted him to world number one in the junior world rankings. The world of tennis had been given a clear signal of a potential champion on the rise. The fabulous story of his achievements, mostly in the doubles sphere, was to follow without much delay, as it were.

The list of his deeds would have been envious to many in the sporting fraternity. Each portrays his relentless resolve to be at his best. Consider the outcome: 54 ATP tour doubles titles, 18 Grand Slam doubles titles (eight of them men’s doubles and the rest ten in mixed doubles). He had achieved a career Grand Slam in both events winning the four majors. Doubles were to be his strength, and he is the record holder of most Davis Cup doubles wins with 43 victories. In fact, Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi were at one time the foremost doubles pair in world tennis. True, the two then separated, but Paes’ drive never lost direction, and his excellence continued inexorably with new partners, and that featured on the mixed side too.

Like all good things, the inspiring run of Paes had to end one day. Paes quit active tennis, but the Indian tennis fraternity will yearn for his continued support. The great man himself laments over the way the Indian Davis Cup campaign had come too, having slipped to World Group 2. Where fighting wins did catch the eye at times in major international events, such happenings involving Indian players have become few and far between. It is not easy, and the scenario can be depressing, but the legend sees something positive in the rise of young talents taking to the sport. He believes that it may take time, but the road ahead could be less complicated as the seasons go by. The man who has inspired Indian tennis with unparalleled success for over three decades must hope that his deeds will provide much-needed encouragement.