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Leander Paes

File:Leander.JPG
Country (sports)	India
Residence	Calcutta, India/Orlando, USA
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Turned pro	1991
Plays	Right-handed
Prize money	$4,414,657
Singles
Career record	99-97
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	73 (24-Aug-1998)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	2nd Round(1997, 2000)
French Open	2nd Round(1997)
Wimbledon	W(1990 Junior), 2nd Round(2001)
US Open	3rd Round(1997)
Doubles
Career record	438-219
Career titles	38
Highest ranking	1 (21-Jun-1999)
Last updated on: 28 May, 2007.

Olympic medal record
Men's Tennis
	1996 Atlanta	Singles

Leander Adrian Paes (born June 17, 1973) is an Indian male tennis professional who currently features in the doubles events in the ATP tour and the Davis Cup tournament. He is as one of the most successful professional Indian tennis players. 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.

He is known for his Davis Cup performances playing for India and also for winning the single bronze medal for India in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. He uses the serve and volley strategy and his style of play is best suited to the grass court, the surface in which he has won four of his seven grandslams.

Early Life and Family

Leander Paes was born in Goa, India to Vece Paes and Jennifer Paes and raised in Calcutta, India. 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 a team that won the bronze medal. His mother captained the Indian basketball team in the 1980 Asian basketball championship. Leander enrolled with the Britannia Tennis Amritraj Academy in Madras in 1985 where he was coached by Dave'O'Meara. The academy played a key role in his early development. Paes is the great grandson of the Bengali poet Michael Madhusudan Dutt. He is married to Rhea Pillai and has a daughter Aiyana Paes.

Career

Early Career (1991-1997)

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

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. He was awarded the highest sporting honour by the Government of India, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna in 1996. His first successful year in the ATP circuit came in 1993 when he partnered Sebastien 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 Leander and Mahesh 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.

Rise in Doubles(1998-2002)

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 Leander 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. 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. Leander 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. The following year Leander partnered with Sebastien Lareau for the Australian Open and Jan Siemerink for the French losing in the first round on both occasions. Leander teamed up again with Mahesh Bhuapthi 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. Leander was given the honour of carrying the Indian Flag at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics. In spite of a winning the French Open in 2001, the team of Mahesh and Leander had 1st round exits in the other 3 grand slams. Leander was awarded the Padmashri by the Government of India in 2001. The duo of Paes and Bhupathi won the gold medal at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan. In 2002 Leander paired up with Michael Hill for a number of tournaments with moderate success.

2003 - Present

Between 2003 and present, Leander has increasingly focussed 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 grandslam success was in the US Open doubles event in 2006. Leander 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). Leander has maintained his doubles ranking in the top 20 in the world between 2005 and 2007. With wins in the Rotterdam and ATP Masters Series in Indian Wells, Leander has taken his doubles tally to 38, as of May 2007.

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. 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 Ivanisevic in 1995 when India defeated Croatia, Jan Siemerink in 1995 to defeat Netherlands , Jiri Novak in 1997. In doubles his major wins include beating the French Team of Arnaud Boetsch and Henri Leconte in France with Ramesh Krishnan in 1993. 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, Nicolas Massu and Marcelo Rios of Chile in 1997, Broad and Tim Henman in 1998 and Simon Aspelin and Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden in 2005. In 2007, Leander has 3 wins(2 Doubles 1 singles) and no losses in the Davis Cup.

Major Career Wins

ATP Tour Singles Titles

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	13 July,1998	Newport, USA	Grass	Neville Godwin	6-3, 6-2

ATP Tour Doubles Titles

Men's Doubles (Grand Slams)

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 Pala Pavel Vizner	7-6, 6-3
2006	U.S. Open	Martin Damm	Jonas Bjorkman Max Mirnyi	6-7, 6-4, 6-3

Mixed Doubles (Grand Slams)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1999	Wimbledon	Lisa Raymond	Jonas Bjorkman 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

Controversies

Leander Paes and his off and on partnership with fellow Indian tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi draws constant media attention in their home country India. 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. He has however recently stated in an interview that he remains friends with Mahesh Bhupathi, even though he is not considering pairing with his former team mate at present.

Notes

1. ATP (2006-05-28). "Leander Paes - Player Profile". Retrieved 2007-05-28.
2. Debasmita Chanda. "Leander Paes - India's Tennis Pride". Retrieved 2007-05-28.
3. Gulu Ezekiel. "KD Jadhav - Man of Bronze". Retrieved 2007-06-01. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
4. Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India. "LIST OF RAJIV GANDHI KHEL RATNA AWARD WINNERS". Retrieved 2007-05-28.
5. ATP Tennis. "Rankings History". Retrieved 2007-06-01.
6. REUTERS (1998-07-13). "Paes picks up first ATP singles crown". Retrieved 2007-06-01. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
7. ATP Tennis. "Official Tournament Draw". Retrieved 2007-06-01.
8. ATP Tennis. "Officiela Tournament Draw, New Haven". Retrieved 2007-05-28.
9. ATP Tennis (1998-08-21). "Paes sends Sampras packing". Retrieved 2007-06-01.
10. ATP Tennis. "Rankings History". Retrieved 2007-06-01.
11. www.gamesinfo.com.au. "Tennis results" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-06-01.
12. PTI. (2006-08-06). "Anju to carry flag at Athens". Retrieved 2007-06-01.
13. Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India (2001-01-26). "Civilian Awards announced on January 26, 2001". Retrieved 2007-05-28.
14. 14th Asian Games BUSAN. (2002-10-11). "Uzbekistan, India, Chinese Taipei split Asiad tennis titles". Retrieved 2007-06-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
15. 15th Asian Games Doha. (2006-12-13). "Men's Doubles Final MD31". Retrieved 2007-06-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
16. 15th Asian Games Doha. (2006-12-13). "Mixed Doubles Final XD21". Retrieved 2007-06-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
17. ATP Tennis. "Rankings History". Retrieved 2007-06-01.
18. ATP Tennis. "Rankings History". Retrieved 2007-06-01.
19. ATP Tennis. "Rotterdam". Retrieved 2007-06-01.
20. PTI (2007-03-19). "Rotterdam". Retrieved 2007-06-01.
21. ATP. "Player Profile". Retrieved 2007-06-01.
22. Rohit Brijnath (2006-04-23). "Leander Paes - setting the standard". Retrieved 2007-05-28.
23. Davis Cup. "Team Profile". Retrieved 2007-06-01.
24. Davis Cup. "Player Profile, www.daviscup.com". Retrieved 2007-06-01.
25. Rohit Brijnath, The Sportstar Volume 25, No.40, October 05- October 11, 2002. (2002-10-11). "The enduring uniqueness of the Davis Cup". Retrieved 2007-06-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
26. M S Unnikrishnan (2000-05-20). "Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi finally part ways". Retrieved 2007-06-01.
27. M S Unnikrishnan (2002-03-23). "Did 'sibling' rivalry lead to Paes-Bhupathi split?". Retrieved 2007-06-01.
28. The Hindu (2002-10-04). "AITA wants Mahesh Bhupathi back in the team". Retrieved 2007-06-01.
29. Times Now (2006-12-05). "Paes questions Mahesh's commitment". Retrieved 2007-06-01.
30. IBNLIVE (2006-05-27). . Retrieved 2007-06-01. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)

External links

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

• 1973 births
• Australian Open champions
• French Open champions
• Goa
• Indian tennis players
• Living people
• Olympic competitors for India
• Padma Shri recipients
• People from Kolkata
• Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna recipients
• Tennis players at the 1992 Summer Olympics
• Tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics
• Tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics
• Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics
• Wimbledon champions
• University of Calcutta alumni
• Indian Christians