Leander Paes

Leander Paes
Country	India
Residence	Calcutta and Orlando, Florida
Date of birth	June 17, 1973 (1973-06-17) (age 36)
Place of birth	Goa
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Weight	77 kg (170 lb/12.1 st)
Turned pro	1991
Plays	Right-handed; one-handed backhand
Career prize money	US$4,872,869
Singles
Career record:	99–98
Career titles:	1
Highest ranking:	No. 73 (August 24, 1998)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	2rd (1997, 2000)
French Open	2rd (1997)
Wimbledon	2rd (2001)
US Open	3rd (1997)
Doubles
Career record:	495–252
Career titles:	39
Highest ranking:	No. 1 (June 21, 1999)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	F (1999, 2006)
French Open	W (1999, 2001)
Wimbledon	W (1999)
US Open	W (2006)
Major doubles tournaments
Masters Cup	F (1997, 1999, 2000, 2005)
Olympic Games	Fourth place (2004)
Mixed Doubles
Career record:	{{{mixedrecord}}}
Career titles:	{{{mixedtitles}}}
Highest ranking:	{{{highestmixedranking}}}
Infobox last updated on: October 6, 2008.

Leander Adrian Paes (born June 17, 1973) is an Indian professional tennis player who currently features in the doubles events in the ATP tour and the Davis Cup tournament. He is one of the most successful professional Indian tennis players and also the former captain of the Indian tennis team. He has won various doubles and mixed doubles events at the Tennis Grand Slam events. He is also the recipient of India's highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in 1996–1997 and the Padmashri award in 2001 for his contribution to Tennis in India.

Apart from his eight Grand Slam victories at doubles and mixed doubles events, he is famous for his several memorable Davis Cup performances playing for India and also for winning a bronze medal for India in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. Also, he achieved the rare Men's Doubles/Mixed Doubles double in the 1999 Wimbledon.

Early life

Leander was born in Goa, India to Vece Paes and Jennifer Paes and raised in Calcutta, India. He was educated at La Martiniere Calcutta. His father and mother were both former Olympians. His father Vece Paes was a hockey player who represented India in the 1972 Munich Olympic games, in the hockey team that won the bronze medal. His mother captained the Indian basketball team in the 1980 Asian basketball championship. Paes enrolled with the Britannia Amritraj Tennis Academy in Madras in 1985 where he was coached by Dave'O'Meara. The academy played a key role in his early development. Leander shot into international fame when he won the 1990 Wimbledon Junior title and rose to No.1 in the junior world-rankings. Paes is the great grandson of the Bengali poet Michael Madhusudan Dutt. Previously having dated Bollywood actress Mahima Chaudhary, he is now married to Rhea Pillai and has a daughter Aiyana Paes.

Career

Early career (1991–1997)

Paes showed promise early in his career by winning titles at the Junior US Open and the Junior Wimbledon. He turned professional in 1991.^[1] He rose to the number 1 in the world in the junior rankings.^[2] In 1992, he reached the quarter finals of the doubles event in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics with Ramesh Krishnan.^[3]

He went one better at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, where he beat Fernando Meligeni to win the Bronze medal, thus becoming the first Indian since KD Jadhav (Bronze in 1952 Helsinki Olympics) to win an individual medal for more than 4 decades.^[4] Paes cited the match as one of his greatest performances on the court, in part because his wrist was severely injured.^[5] He was awarded the highest sporting honour by the Government of India, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna in 1996.^[6] His first successful year in the ATP circuit came in 1993 when he partnered Sébastien Lareau to reach the US Open doubles semi-final. After having a moderate season in 1994 he reached the Quarter final of the 1995 Australian Open doubles with Kevin Ullyett. From 1996 he started partnering with fellow Indian Mahesh Bhupathi, which later would prove to be a winning combination. This year was not a very successful one, especially in the grand slams with a round of 32 finish at Wimbledon being the best. 1997 proved a much better year for the team of Paes and Bhupathi with the semi-finals of the US Open their best grand slam result. Paes climbed the doubles ranking from 89 at the beginning of the year to 14 at the end of the year.^[7]

Rise in doubles (1998–2002)

Leander Paes and his former doubles partner Mahesh Bhupathi.

The doubles team of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi grew stronger in 1998 reaching the Semi-Finals of 3 grand slams, the Australian Open, the French Open and the US Open. In the same year Paes had two of his biggest singles results in the ATP tour. The first one came by winning an ATP singles title at Newport and the second was beating Pete Sampras at the New Haven ATP tournament.^{[8][9][10][11]} In the year 1999, the duo reached the finals of all the 4 grand slams winning the Wimbledon and the French Open, thus becoming the first Indian pair to win a doubles event at a Grand slam event. Paes also teamed up with Lisa Raymond to win the Mixed doubles event at Wimbledon. The year also marked his ascent to the No.1 ranking in the doubles.^[12] The following year Paes partnered with Sébastien Lareau for the Australian Open and Jan Siemerink for the French losing in the first round on both occasions. Paes teamed up again with Mahesh Bhupathi for the US Open but lost in the first round again. The duo had a disappointing second round exit to Australian duo of Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde at the Sydney Olympics, despite high hopes.^[13] Paes was given the honour of carrying the Indian Flag at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics.^[14] In spite of a winning the French Open in 2001, the team of Bhupathi and Paes had 1st round exits in the other 3 grand slams. Paes was awarded the Padmashri by the Government of India in 2001.^[15] The duo of Paes and Bhupathi won the gold medal at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan.^[16] In 2002 Leander paired up with Michael Hill for a number of tournaments with moderate success.

Leander Paes and Martina Navaratilova pairing up in a Mixed doubles event

2003–present

Between 2003 and present, Paes has increasingly focused on his doubles and mixed doubles game. Leander won the Mixed doubles events at the Australian Open and Wimbledon with Martina Navaratilova, both in 2003. In the 2004 Athens Olympic games he paired up with Mahesh Bhupathi, failing again at the semi finals stage. His next Grand Slam success was in the U.S. Open doubles event in 2006. Paes lead the Indian tennis team at the Doha Asian Games in 2006 and won two golds in the Men's doubles (partnering Mahesh Bhupathi) and Mixed doubles(partnering Sania Mirza).^[17][18] Paes has maintained his doubles ranking in the top 20 in the world between 2005 and 2007.^[19][20] With wins in the Rotterdam and ATP Masters Series in Indian Wells, Paes has taken his doubles tally to 38, as of May 2007.^[21][22][23] Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi took part in the men's doubles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. They were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka ^[24] who went on to win the men's doubles gold medal ^[25].

Davis Cup career

Leander Paes started his Davis Cup career in 1990 at a young age of 16, when he partnered Zeeshan Ali in the doubles to beat the Japanese team in a gruelling 5 set encounter. He is considered as one of the top Davis cup players for his country with a record of 81–30 overall as of May 2007.^[26][27] He played an important role in the Indian Davis cup team that reached the world group from 1991–1998. He was part of the Indian Davis Cup team that reached the Semi-Finals of the 1993 Davis Cup with wins against Switzerland and France, eventually losing out to Australia. In singles his major wins came against Wayne Ferreira in 1994, Goran Ivanišević in 1995 when India defeated Croatia, Jan Siemerink in 1995 to defeat Netherlands, Jiří Novák in 1997.^[28] In doubles his major wins include beating the French Team of Arnaud Boetsch and Henri Leconte in France with Ramesh Krishnan in 1993.^[29] He teamed up with Mahesh Bhupathi to beat Hirszon and Ivanisevic of Croatia in 1995, Martin Damm and Petr Korda of Czech Republic in 1997, Nicolás Massú and Marcelo Ríos of Chile in 1997, Broad and Tim Henman in 1998 and Simon Aspelin and Jonas Björkman of Sweden in 2005. In 2007, Leander has 3 wins(2 Doubles 1 singles) and no losses in the Davis Cup.

Major career wins

Singles titles

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in final	Score in final
1.	December 7, 1992	Guangzhou, China	Hard	Richard Matuszewski	6–3, 6–3
2.	May 23, 1994	Mumbai, India	Hard	Joost Winnink	6–7, 6–3, 6–1
3.	August 8, 1994	Binghamton, New York, U.S.	Hard	David Witt	6–4, 6–2
4.	July 31, 1995	Brasilia	Hard	Roberto Jabali	6–1, 5–7, 6–4
5.	November 18, 1996	Mauritius	Grass	Fabrice Santoro	7–5, 6–4
6.	March 2, 1998	Bangkok	Hard	Gouichi Motomura	6–4, 7–5
7.	July 6, 1998	Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.	Grass	Neville Godwin	6–3, 6–2
8.	February 1, 1999	Kolkata, India	Grass (I)	Mahesh Bhupathi	4–6, 6–4, 6–3
9.	April 12, 1999	New Delhi	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi	7–5, 6–4
10.	November 29, 1999	Lucknow, India	Grass	Jamie Delgado	7–6, 7–6
11.	December 6, 1999	Jaipur, India	Grass	Barry Cowan	7–6, 6–4
12.	February 28, 2000	Mumbai, India	Hard	Dennis van Scheppingen	7–6, 3–2 ret.

Men's doubles titles (40)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in final	Score in final
1.	April 7, 1997	Chennai, India	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi	Oleg Ogorodov Eyal Ran	7–6 7–5
2.	April 28, 1997	Prague	Clay	Mahesh Bhupathi	Petr Luxa David Škoch	6–1 6–1
3.	July 28, 1997	Montreal	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi	Sébastien Lareau Alex O'Brien	7–6 6–3
4.	August 11, 1997	New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi	Sébastien Lareau Alex O'Brien	6–4 6–7 6–2
5.	September 29, 1997	Beijing	Hard (I)	Mahesh Bhupathi	Alex O'Brien Jim Courier	7–5 7–6
6.	October 6, 1997	Singapore	Carpet (I)	Mahesh Bhupathi	Rick Leach Jonathan Stark	6–4 6–4
7.	January 5, 1998	Doha, Qatar	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi	Olivier Delaître Fabrice Santoro	6–4 3–6 6–4
8.	February 9, 1998	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi	Donald Johnson Francisco Montana	6–2 7–5
9.	April 6, 1998	Chennai, India	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi	Olivier Delaître Max Mirnyi	6–7 6–3 6–2
10.	May 11, 1998	Rome	Clay	Mahesh Bhupathi	Ellis Ferreira Rick Leach	6–4 4–6 7–6
11.	October 5, 1998	Shanghai	Carpet (I)	Mahesh Bhupathi	Todd Woodbridge Mark Woodforde	6–4 6–7 7–6
12.	November 2, 1998	Paris	Carpet (I)	Mahesh Bhupathi	Jacco Eltingh Paul Haarhuis	6–4 6–2
13.	April 5, 1999	Chennai, India	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi	Wayne Black Neville Godwin	4–6 7–5 6–4
14.	May 24, 1999	French Open	Clay	Mahesh Bhupathi	Goran Ivanišević Jeff Tarango	6–2 7–5
15.	June 21, 1999	Wimbledon, United Kingdom	Grass	Mahesh Bhupathi	Paul Haarhuis Jared Palmer	6–7 6–3 6–4 7–6
16.	July 5, 1999	Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.	Grass	Wayne Arthurs	Sargis Sargsian Chris Woodruff	6–7 ertyehy 7–6 6–3
17.	May 1, 2000	Orlando, Florida, U.S.	Clay	Jan Siemerink	Justin Gimelstob Sébastien Lareau	6–3 6–4
18.	October 9, 2000	Tokyo	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi	Michael Hill Jeff Tarango	6–4 6–7 6–3
19.	April 23, 2001	Atlanta	Clay	Mahesh Bhupathi	Rick Leach David Macpherson	6–3 7–6
20.	April 30, 2001	Houston, Texas, U.S.	Clay	Mahesh Bhupathi	Kevin Kim Jim Thomas	7–6 6–2
21.	May 28, 2001	French Open	Clay	Mahesh Bhupathi	Petr Pála Pavel Vízner	7–6 6–3
22.	August 6, 2001	Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi	Martin Damm David Prinosil	7–6 6–3
23.	December 31, 2001	Chennai, India	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi	Tomáš Cibulec Ota Fukarek	5–7 6–2 7–5
24.	April 29, 2002	Majorca, Spain	Clay	Mahesh Bhupathi	Julian Knowle Michael Kohlmann	6–2 6–4
25.	February 24, 2003	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Hard	David Rikl	Wayne Black Kevin Ullyett	6–3 6–0
26.	March 3, 2003	Delray Beach, Florida, U.S.	Hard	Nenad Zimonjić	Raemon Sluiter Martin Verkerk	7–5 3–6 7–5
27.	July 7, 2003	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	David Rikl	František Čermák Leoš Friedl	6–3 6–3
28.	June 7, 2004	Halle, Germany	Grass	David Rikl	Tomáš Cibulec Petr Pála	6–2 7–5
29.	July 5, 2004	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	David Rikl	Marc Rosset Stanislas Wawrinka	6–4 6–2
30.	July 26, 2004	Toronto	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi	Jonas Björkman Max Mirnyi	6–4 6–2
31.	September 13, 2004	Delray Beach, Florida, U.S.	Hard	Radek Štěpánek	Gastón Etlis Martín Rodríguez	6–0 6–3
32.	April 11, 2005	Monte Carlo	Clay	Nenad Zimonjić	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	walkover
33.	April 18, 2005	Barcelona	Clay	Nenad Zimonjić	Feliciano López Rafael Nadal	6–3 6–3
34.	September 26, 2005	Bangkok	Hard (I)	Paul Hanley	Jonathan Erlich Andy Ram	6–7 6–1 6–2
35.	June 19, 2006	's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Martin Damm	Arnaud Clément Chris Haggard	6–1 7–6
36.	August 28, 2006	US Open	Hard	Martin Damm	Jonas Björkman Max Mirnyi	6–7 6–4 6–3
37.	February 19, 2007	Rotterdam	Hard (I)	Martin Damm	Andrei Pavel Alexander Waske	6–3 6–7 [10–7]
38.	March 5, 2007	Indian Wells, California, U.S.	Hard	Martin Damm	Jonathan Erlich Andy Ram	6–4 6–4
39.	September 21, 2008	Bangkok, Thailand	Hard (I)	Lukáš Dlouhý	Scott Lipsky David Martin	6–4 7–6(4)

Grand Slam men's doubles titles

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponent in final	Score in final
1999	French Open	Mahesh Bhupathi	Goran Ivanišević Jeff Tarango	6–2, 7–5
1999	Wimbledon	Mahesh Bhupathi	Paul Haarhuis Jared Palmer	6–7, 6–3, 6–4, 7–6
2001	French Open	Mahesh Bhupathi	Petr Pála Pavel Vízner	7–6, 6–3
2006	U.S. Open	Martin Damm	Jonas Björkman Max Mirnyi	6–7, 6–4, 6–3

Grand Slam mixed doubles titles

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponent in final	Score in final
1999	Wimbledon	Lisa Raymond	Jonas Björkman Anna Kournikova	6–4, 3–6, 6–3
2003	Australian Open	Martina Navratilova	Todd Woodbridge Eleni Daniilidou	6–4, 7–5
2003	Wimbledon	Martina Navratilova	Andy Ram Anastassia Rodionova	6–3, 6–3
2008	US Open	Cara Black	Jamie Murray Liezel Huber	7–6, 6–4

Controversies

Leander Paes and his off and on partnership with fellow Indian tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi draws constant media attention in home country India.^[30][31][32] In the 2006 Asian Games, a loss to the Chinese Taipei in the team event led Leander to question Bhupathi's commitment to Team India.^[33] He once stated in an interview that although he is friends with Bhupathi, he did not consider pairing with his former team-mate.^[34] However, for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, they decided to play together for their country.^[35]

References

External links

• Leander Paes Fan Site
• Leander Paes at the Association of Tennis Professionals