Leander Paes

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Leander Paes
CountryImage:Flag of India.svg India
ResidenceImage:Flag of India.svg Calcutta and
Image:Flag of the United States.svg Orlando, Florida
Date of birthJune 17 1973 (1973-06-17) (age 36)
Place of birthImage:Flag of India.svg Goa
Height1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Weight77 kg (170 lb/12.1 st)
Turned Pro1991
PlaysRight-handed
Career Prize MoneyUS$4,498,317
Singles
Career record:99-97
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)
U.S. Open 3rd (1997)
Doubles
Career record:438-219
Career titles:38
Highest ranking:No. 1 (June 21, 1999)

Infobox last updated on: September 1, 2007.

Olympic medal record
Men's Tennis
Bronze 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 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.

Apart from his seven 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 the single bronze medal for India in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

Contents

[edit] 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 for Boys. 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 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. Previously having dated bollywood actress Mahima Chowdhury, he is now married to Rhea Pillai and has a daughter Aiyana Paes.

[edit] Career

[edit] 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]

Image:Leander Wimbledon.jpg
Leander Paes playing in Wimbledon.

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 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 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]

[edit] Rise in doubles (1998-2002)

Image:LeeAndHesh1.jpg
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 Sebastien 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.

Image:Leander Martina.jpg
Leander Paes and Martina Navaratilova pairing up in a Mixed doubles event

[edit] 2003 - Present

Between 2003 and present, Paes 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 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]

[edit] 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.[24][25] 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.[26] In doubles his major wins include beating the French Team of Arnaud Boetsch and Henri Leconte in France with Ramesh Krishnan in 1993.[27] 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 Rios 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.

[edit] Major career wins

[edit] ATP Tour Singles Titles

No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 13 July,1998 Newport, U.S. Grass Image:Flag of South Africa.svg Neville Godwin 6-3, 6-2

[edit] ATP Tour Doubles titles

Year 1 2 3 4 5 6
1997BeijingChennaiMontrealNew HavenPragueSingapore
1998 Chennai Doha Dubai Paris Indoor Rome Shanghai
1999Newport Chennai French Open Wimbledon
2000Tokyo Orlando
2001Atlanta Cincinnati Houston French Open
2002Chennai Mallorca
2003Dubai Gstaad Delray Beach
2004Toronto Gstaad Halle Delray Beach
2005Bangkok Monte Carlo Barcelona
2006's-Hertogenbosch US Open
2007 Indian Wells Rotterdam

[edit] Men's Doubles (Grand Slams)

Year Championship Partnering Opponent in Final Score in Final
1999French OpenImage:Flag of India.svg Mahesh BhupathiImage:Flag of Croatia.svg Goran Ivanišević
Image:Flag of the United States.svg Jeff Tarango		6-2, 7-5
1999 Wimbledon Image:Flag of India.svg Mahesh Bhupathi Image:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Paul Haarhuis
Image:Flag of the United States.svg Jared Palmer 		6-7, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6
2001French OpenImage:Flag of India.svg Mahesh BhupathiImage:Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Petr Pala
Image:Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Pavel Vizner		7-6, 6-3
2006 U.S. OpenImage:Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Martin DammImage:Flag of Sweden.svg Jonas Björkman
Image:Flag of Belarus.svg Max Mirnyi		6-7, 6-4, 6-3

[edit] Mixed Doubles (Grand Slams)

Year Championship Partnering Opponent in Final Score in Final
1999 Wimbledon Image:Flag of the United States.svg Lisa Raymond Image:Flag of Sweden.svg Jonas Björkman
Image:Flag of Russia.svg Anna Kournikova 		6-4, 3-6, 6-3
2003 Australian Open Image:Flag of the United States.svg Martina Navratilova Image:Flag of Australia.svg Todd Woodbridge
Image:Flag of Greece.svg Eleni Daniilidou 		6-4, 7-5
2003 Wimbledon Image:Flag of the United States.svg Martina Navratilova Image:Flag of Israel.svg Andy Ram
Image:Flag of Russia.svg Anastassia Rodionova 		6-3, 6-3

[edit] Controversies

Leander Paes and his off and on partnership with fellow Indian tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi draws constant media attention in home country India. [28][29][30] 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.[31] He once stated in an interview that although he is friends with Bhupathi, he did not consider pairing with his former team-mate.[32] However, for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, they decided to play together for their country.[33]

[edit] References

  1. ^ ATP (2006-05-28). Leander Paes - Player Profile. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
  2. ^ Debasmita Chanda. Leander Paes - India's Tennis Pride. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
  3. ^ Olympics Barcelona - Men's Doubles - Main Draw. Retrieved on 2007-12-31.
  4. ^ Gulu Ezekiel. KD Jadhav - Man of Bronze. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  5. ^ Mark Malinowski. Fond Memories: Players REcall Greatest Moments III. Retrieved on 2007-08-31.
  6. ^ Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India. LIST OF RAJIV GANDHI KHEL RATNA AWARD WINNERS. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
  7. ^ ATP Tennis. Rankings History. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  8. ^ REUTERS (1998-07-13). Paes picks up first ATP singles crown. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  9. ^ ATP Tennis. Official Tournament Draw. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  10. ^ ATP Tennis. Officiela Tournament Draw, New Haven. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
  11. ^ ATP Tennis (1998-08-21). Paes sends Sampras packing. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  12. ^ ATP Tennis. Rankings History. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  13. ^ www.gamesinfo.com.au. Tennis results. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  14. ^ PTI. (2006-08-06). Anju to carry flag at Athens. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  15. ^ Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India (2001-01-26). Civilian Awards announced on January 26, 2001. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
  16. ^ 14th Asian Games BUSAN. (2002-10-11). Uzbekistan, India, Chinese Taipei split Asiad tennis titles. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  17. ^ 15th Asian Games Doha. (2006-12-13). Men's Doubles Final MD31. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  18. ^ 15th Asian Games Doha. (2006-12-13). Mixed Doubles Final XD21. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  19. ^ ATP Tennis. Rankings History. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  20. ^ ATP Tennis. Rankings History. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  21. ^ ATP Tennis. Rotterdam. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  22. ^ PTI (2007-03-19). Rotterdam. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  23. ^ ATP. Player Profile. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  24. ^ Rohit Brijnath (2006-04-23). Leander Paes - setting the standard. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
  25. ^ Davis Cup. Team Profile. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  26. ^ Davis Cup. Player Profile, www.daviscup.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  27. ^ Rohit Brijnath, The Sportstar Volume 25, No.40, October 05- October 11, 2002. (2002-10-11). The enduring uniqueness of the Davis Cup. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  28. ^ M S Unnikrishnan (2000-05-20). Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi finally part ways. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  29. ^ M S Unnikrishnan (2002-03-23). Did ‘sibling’ rivalry lead to Paes-Bhupathi split?. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  30. ^ The Hindu (2002-10-04). AITA wants Mahesh Bhupathi back in the team. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  31. ^ Times Now (2006-12-05). Paes questions Mahesh's commitment. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  32. ^ IBNLIVE (2006-05-27). Pairing Hesh not on my mind: Paes. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  33. ^ The Times of India (2007-12-18). Lee-Hesh to play together in 2008 Olympics. Retrieved on 2007-12-31.

[edit] External links

Association of Tennis Professionals | Top ten male doubles teams as of December 17, 2007
1. Image:Flag of the United States.svg Mike Bryan
    Image:Flag of the United States.svg Bob Bryan 		2. Image:Flag of the Bahamas.svg Mark Knowles
    Image:Flag of Canada.svg Daniel Nestor 		3. Image:Flag of Sweden.svg Simon Aspelin
    Image:Flag of Austria.svg Julian Knowle 		4. Image:Flag of Australia.svg Paul Hanley
    Image:Flag of Zimbabwe.svg Kevin Ullyett 		5. Image:Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Lukáš Dlouhý
    Image:Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Pavel Vízner
Preceded by
Karnam Malleswari 		Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna
1996/1997
Joint with Nameirakpam Kunjarani 		Succeeded by
Sachin Tendulkar
bn:লিয়েন্ডার পেজ

cs:Leander Paes da:Leander Paes de:Leander Paes es:Leander Paes fr:Leander Paes hi:लिएंडर पेस mr:लिअँडर पेस ja:リアンダー・パエス no:Leander Paes pl:Leander Paes pt:Leander Paes sk:Leander Paes sv:Leander Paes ta:லியாண்டர் பயஸ்

Retrieved from "http://india.smashits.com/wikipedia/Leander_Paes"
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