When it comes to Indian tennis, one name stands out and that is Leander Paes.?His legacy can be matched by a few. So much so that Rafael Nadal hailed him as one of the greats of the game. When it comes to doubles, he is certainly a legend.
Having said that, he was not always a doubles specialist. Paes did start off as a singles player. But the journey began much earlier. He pretty much had sports in his blood. His father Vece, was part of the Indian hockey team that won bronze at the 1972 Olympics. His mother Jennifer was the captain of India at the Asian Basketball Championship. In fact from his mother's side he is a direct descendant of renowned Bengali poet Michael Madhusudan Dutta. Now that is some lineage indeed.?
He started playing at an early age and enrolled in the Britannia Amritraj Tennis Academy in 1985. It proved to be a masterstroke and paid dividends when he won the Junior Wimbledon title in 1990 and was the top ranked junior player at the age of 17. A win at the Junior US Open followed, and then came the decision to turn pro in 1991. Now the hard road to success would begin.
Reuters
1996 was the year he created history when he won bronze at the Olympics. It was our first individual medal after 44 years and also the only tennis medal we have won till date. By the end of 1997, Paes realised he was more effective as a doubles player and officially made the shift. This career choice would set the path to greatness.?
In 1999 he won the French Open and Wimbledon doubles title with Mahesh Bhupathi and suddenly the world was taking notice. He also won mixed doubles in Wimbledon that year. For someone who started off as a singles player, Paes was turning into a doubles specialist.?
Reuters
Time has proved that he is the doubles expert. The man has 18 Grand Slams to his name. Not to mention the overall 54 career titles that he has won. In addition to this, Paes has the most Davis Cup doubles wins as well. Now that puts him in a class by himself.?