Leander Adrian Paes

At 51 years old, Leander Adrian Paes has this physical status:

Leander Adrian Paes (PAYSS), a male tennis player, was born on the 17th of June 1973, is an Indian professional tennis player. Paes has won eight doubles and ten mixed doubles Grand Slam titles.

He has competed in men's doubles and mixed doubles, as well as the rare men's doubles/mixed doubles double at the 1999 Wimbledon tournament.

Hel Ratna won the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in 1996, India's highest sporting award, after Rod Laver), for his contributions to tennis in India.

He appeared in consecutive Olympics from 1992 to 2016, making him the first Indian and only tennis player to play at seven Olympic Games. He is a former Davis Cup captain and has won the most Davis Cup doubles with 43 victories (surpassing Nicola Pietrangeli's 42).

He competed on the 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 championship teams, and was named Male MVP for 2009 and 2011 for all of World Team Tennis.

Early life

Paes was born in Calcutta, India, on June 17th, 1973, to Vece Paes, a Goan, and Jennifer Paes, a Calcutta. He attended La Martiniere Calcutta High Secondary School and St. Xavier's College. Both his parents were athletes. Vece was a member of the bronze medal-winning Indian field hockey team in the 1972 Munich Olympics, but he did not receive a medal because he did not play in any of India's matches. In the 1980 Asian basketball championship, his mother captained the Indian basketball team. Paes is a direct descendant of Bengali poet Michael Madhusudan Dutta, who died before his mother.

Paes was accepted at the Britannia Amritraj Tennis Academy in Madras (Chennai), where he was coached by Dave O'Meara. Paes gained international recognition when he won the 1990 Wimbledon Junior Championship and debuted at No. 1 on the International Herald. At age 17, the United States ranks No. 1 in the junior world rankings.

He joined the Board of Directors of Olympic Gold Quest, a non-profit established by Geet Sethi and Prakash Padukone in 2010 to help talented Indian athletes.

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Career

Paes was the first to win titles at the Junior US Open and the Junior Wimbledon. In 1991, he turned professional. He ranked first in the world junior rankings at number one. Ramesh Krishnan and his colleagues qualified in the quarterfinals of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics in 1992.

He beat Fernando Meligeni to win the bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, becoming the first Indian to win an individual medal after KD Jadhav won bronze at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Paes referred to the game as one of his best performances, owing to his wrist injury. In 1996, he was given the highest sporting award by India's government, the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna.

In 1993, he first had a fruitful year on the ATP circuit, when he worked with Sébastien Lareau to reach the US Open doubles semifinals. He reached the quarter-finals of the 1995 Australian Open doubles with Kevin Ullyett following a normal season in 1994. He began working with fellow Indian Mahesh Bhupathi from 1996. Their first year in the Grand Slams was not fruitful, with only 32 people in the round at Wimbledon. The team had a much better year in 1997, winning the US Open semifinals. Paes climbed to the top of the doubles rankings from no. 1 in the world. At the start of the year, there were 89 people at no. At year-end, there were 14 people at 14 on year-end. He made his best singles appearance in a Grand Slam last year, losing in the third round of the 1997 US Open to Cédric Pioline after defeating Carlos Costa and Arnaud Boetsch in the third round.

In 1998, Paes/Bhupathi grew stronger, winning three Grand Slams, the Australian Open, the French Open, and the US Open, with three of them reaching the semifinals. Paes had two of his best singles victories. At the New Haven ATP tournament, the first one won his first ATP singles title at Newport, and the second came from defeating Pete Sampras 6–4, 6–4 for their second meeting. The pair reached the finals of all four Grand Slams in 1999, defeating Wimbledon and France, making the first Indians to win a doubles event at a Grand Slam for the first Indians. Paes won the Wimbledon mixed doubles tournament with Lisa Raymond. He climbed to the no. 2nd position in the year. 1 doubles in the world's highest ranking. Paes continued to compete with Sébastien Lareau for the Australian and Jan Siemerink for the French, losing in the first round on both occasions. The Paes were reunited with Bhupathi for the US Open but they were disqualified in the first round once more.

At the Sydney Olympics, the pair suffered a humiliating second round exit to Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde. At the inaugural service, Paes was honoured to carry the Indian Flag.

Despite winning the French in 2001, Bhupathi/Paes had first-round exits in the other three Grand Slams. In 2001, Paes was awarded the Padmashri by the Government of India. At the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, the pair of Paes and Bhupathi took home the gold medal. Leander teamed up with Michael Hill with marginal success in 2002.

Since 2003, Paes' focus has largely been on doubles. Martina Navratilova and Martina Navratilova both won the mixed doubles events at the Australian and Wimbledon in 2003. Paes was admitted to the MD Anderson Cancer Center for a suspected brain tumor that was later identified as neurocysticercosis, a parasitic brain disease. He had to miss the US Open but recovered by the end of the year.

He teamed up with Bhupathi in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, but he failed again in the semifinals. Martin Damm's next Grand Slam appearance was in the US Open doubles event in 2006. Paes commanded the Indian tennis team at the Doha Asian Games in 2006 and gained two gold medals in the men's doubles (with Bhupathi) and mixed doubles (with Sania Mirza). Between 2005 and 2007, Paes maintained his double-ranking in the top 20 in the world. Paes increased his doubles count to 38 with victories in the Rotterdam and Indian Wells.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Paes/Bhupathi competed in male doubles. They were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka, who went on to win gold. Cara Black won the 2008 US Open mixed doubles title, beating him in the process.

He won the French Open and US Open Men's doubles titles with Lukállouh in 2009, and was the runner-up in mixed at the US Open in mixed.

He started the 2010 season off in good form, winning the Australian Open mixed doubles title with Cara Black. This was the pair's third straight Grand Slam final and fourth overall.

The 2012 Wimbledon championship champions, Paes and Radek, came to an end, when the pair lost to Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo. After defeating Bob Bryan and Liezel Huber 7–5, 3–6, 6–3, Elena Vesnina advanced to the finals of the Wimbledon mixed doubles on July 7, 6–3. They lost in the final to Lisa Raymond and Mike Bryan 3–6, 7–6, 4–6.

In the 2012 Summer Olympics, the Indian pair (Vishnu Vardhan) lost to French team Michal Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6–6, 3–6.

After losing their Spanish opponents, Marcel Granollers and Marc López, due to injury, Paes and Tánek advanced to the finals at the 2012 US Open. However, the pair lost in the final of US Open 2012 to the Bryan brothers.

Paes and Têtpánek qualified for the ATP World Tour Finals against Pakistan's Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Dutchman Jean Julien Rojer, 6–5, 7–5. They made it to the semifinals, where they were eliminated by eventual runners-up Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna.

Paes/tpánek won the 2013 US Open, defeating Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares 6–1, 6–3. This was Paes' 3rd US Open men's doubles title and 14th Grand Slam title. The Government of India awarded Padma Bhushan for Paes in January 2014.

Marcin Matkowski and Paes won the Malaysian Open men's doubles in 2014.

Paes began his 25th season on the ATP World Tour by partnering with Klaasen in the Chennai final, where the team lost to Lu/Marray. He captured his 55th tour-level title in his 93rd final at Auckland on January 17th, with Klaasen. En route to the final, the team defeated three-match tie breakers. Paes has won at least one trophy since 1997 when they were crowned.

Paes captured his seventh Grand Slam mixed doubles crown at the 2015 Australian Open on February 1st. Martina Hingis earned his seventh Grand Slam mixed doubles crown. It was his 15th major crown overall and his third mixed doubles triumph at Melbourne Park. In the final, the two defeated defending champions Daniel Nestor and Kristina Mladenovic. No. 1 in the United States ranked No. 1 in the rankings. In the men's doubles, Paes lost to eventual champions Bolelli/Fognini in the second round.

Paes started a new relationship with Daniel Nestor at the 2015 French Open. In the third round, the pair crashed out; however, Paes became the seventh male player in the Open Era to win 700 doubles.

Paese also competed against Hingis in Wimbledon, 2015, winning the mixed doubles championship. Alexander Peya and Tsmea Babos, the fifth seeds, scored 6–1, 6–1 for the final 6–1. The third round of Paes/Nestor was a tie. Paes set the record for men's championships in the open era with Owen Davidson by winning his fourth Wimbledon mixed doubles title.

Paes claimed the mixed doubles at the 2015 US Open with Hingis on September 12, 2015, defeating Sam Query and Bethanie Mattek-Sands in three sets.

Leander Paes won the 2016 French Open in mixed with Hingis on June 3, putting him into a prestigious group of players. He set Davidson's new record for most men's titles. Paes qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Men's Doubles and was partnered with Rohan Bopanna. They lost in the first round to Marcin Matkowski and Kubot of Poland. He later joined Andre Begemann in the Winston-Salem Open final, where they progressed to the final. The 2016 US Open first round robbed this pair. Saketh Myneni played in the Davis Cup against Spain, losing in 4 sets to Rafael Nadal and Marc López.

Paes and his 111th companion, Andre Sae, appeared in the 2017 season. In the first round of Aircel Chennai Open, the two teams lost in straight sets to Purav Raja and Divij Sharan, India. Paes fell to 64th in doubles rankings after losing this series. Despite winning their Davis Cup tie against New Zealand, Paes, and his last-minute colleague, Vishnu Vardhan, lost to the New Zealanders Artem Sitak/Michael Venus. For the match against Uzbekistan, Paes and Rohan Bopanna were kept as reserve by new, non-playing captain Mahesh Bhupathi. Paes was eventually dropped from the final four, sparking controversies. The Dubai Open and Delray Beach semifinals have travelled to Paes. Since being ranked above 49th in a series of challenger events, Paes hasn't ranked higher. He performed with Adil Shamasdin, Scott Lipsky, and Purav Raja. It was the first time since 1996 that Paes had failed to win a title or reach the final at an ATP tour event in a season.

Paes continued his relationship with Raja after losing the Maharashtra Open in the first round to defending champions Bopanna/Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan. In the Australian Open, Paes/Raja lost in the round of 16. In the Dubai Open, Paes and James Certani came in second place, second overall. Paes was called back to India's Davis Cup squad to compete against China. Paes became the most popular player in Davis Cup history on April 7, 2018, winning his 43rd doubles title. Paes/Bopanna scripted India's comeback, and the tie was decided 3–2. Paes skipped clay and grass court seasons after this. Paes was chosen for the 2018 Asian Games, but he opted out the day before the Games began, citing a shortage of a doubles specialist to accompany him. Before losing in the first round of the US Open, Paes/Certani participated in many Challenger tournaments before failing in the first round of the US Open. Miguel ngel Reyes-Varela played Challengers with Paes.

At the Maharashtra Open in 2019, Paes/Reyes-Varela began the season. Bopanna/Divij Sharan, the eventual champions of the tournament, lost by a close quarter-final to the duo 17–15 in a match tie-break. The Da Nang Challenger was then ranked runners-up by Paes/Reyes-Varela before losing in the first round of the Australian Open. In July 2019, Paes reached the semi-finals of the Hall of Fame Championship.

Paes started his Davis Cup career in 1990, when he partnered Zeeshan Ali in doubles to defeat the Japanese team in a five-set match. He was a member of the Indian team that made the World Group from 1991 to 1998. He was part of the Indian team that reached the semifinals in 1993 with victories over Switzerland and France before losing to Australia. In singles, he defeated French duo of Arnaud Boetsch and Henri Leconte in 1993, Wayne Ferreira in 1994, and Goran Ivanievi in 1995, beating the Netherlands in 1996. Ji Novák 1997, 1991. In 1995, Mass/Rosevic of Croatia defeated Hirszon/Ivanisevic of Croatia, Broad/Henman of Sweden in 1997, And Aspelin/Björkman of Sweden in 2005. He teamed up with Bhupathi to defeat Hirszon/Ivanisevic of Croatia, Damm/Korda of the Czech Republic. Leander had three victories (two doubles and one singles) in 2007 and no losses.

He defeated No. 1 in 1993, a first-class victory. On clay, 25 Arnaud Boetsch defeated him in straight sets. Paes defeated Henri Leconte last week, and although Ramesh Krishnan won the tie-breaker against Rodolphe Gilbert, it was Paes who put the game over the top.

He defeated World No. 1 in 1994. In straight sets, 13 Wayne Ferreira defeated the overall tie, but in final sets, they tied.

In six season finales, Paes appeared with Bhupathi.

Paes competed with Bhupathi each year from 1997 to 2000, as well as in 2002 and 2011, winning three finals. They lost the final to Rick Leach and Jonathan Stark in 1997. They lost the 1999 final to Sébastien Lavinci and Alex O'Brien. They lost the final to Donald Johnson and Pieter Norval in 2000.

Acting career

Leander made his film debut in Ashok Kohli's Rajdhani Express, a socio-political drama.

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