At 36, the veteran tennis star is still going strong, and he's in no mood to take it easy.
Eighteen years have passed since Leander Paes burst onto the tennis scene as a teenager, but it seems like yesterday. Sachin Tendulkar apart, no other contemporary Indian sportsman can boast of playing at the highest level and delivering as consistently as Paes has.
What’s the secret of his longevity? “My love for the sport is as strong as ever, and I intend to play as long as my heart is in it,” says Paes, who recently won another Grand Slam doubles title at Roland Garros. But what about fitness? After all, playing competitive sport takes a great toll on the body. For Paes, age is a mere number and he says that he works really hard to keep fit. “I follow a strict regimen and do intense workouts with my trainer to keep fit.”
Paes has been the flag-bearer of Indian tennis for almost two decades now. Though he rose to a career high rank of 73 in singles, he found his true calling in doubles. In 1996, he beat the then world number one Pete Sampras in singles. But injuries started taking their toll and singles took a back seat for Paes in subsequent years. He continued playing singles in the Davis Cup for India, but his focus in the international arena was firmly fixed on the doubles. He has no regrets about not making it big in singles. He says he loved playing for the country in the Davis Cup and has some fantastic memories.
Paes is the perennial underdog. But he can count many top-ranked players, such as Goran Ivanisevic, among those whose scalps he has collected in the Davis Cup. “I just believed in my abilities and never thought about who was across the net,” he says.
Paes has arguably been one of the best doubles players in recent years, and nine grand slam titles back that claim. Paes has 40 doubles titles to his name and says that he enjoyed each one of them. But his recent success at the French Open really stands out. “I worked really hard with my trainer and changed my regime to change the style of play for clay,” Paes adds.
His first Davis Cup coach, Jaideep Mukerjea, says that he is not surprised that Paes has been going on for so long. Says Mukerjea, “Leander was always very hard-working.” He describes it as a testament to Paes’ motivation levels that he could come back to competitive tennis after suffering a brain lesion.
In 2003, it was suspected that Paes was suffering from a brain tumour, but he was eventually treated for parasitic brain infection. “Those were tough days, but I had the will to come back stronger,” Paes says. And he did come back stronger than ever before. Paes has managed to win five grand slam titles since that illness, and he looks much fitter. As Mukerjea says, Paes’ fitness regime is one of the best and he never misses a training session.
In keeping with his do-or-die attitude, Paes says that 2012 is a realistic target for him. The London Olympics is something which he has in his sights and, although he will be 39 by then, he harbours the hope to participate in one more Olympics. Paes has a special relationship with the Olympics. It was in 1996 that he won a bronze medal there and rose to superstardom.
Talk to him about the future of Indian tennis and he sounds hopeful. “It is on the right track and things are much better than when I started out. The future of Indian tennis looks bright, but we need to continuously support it,” Paes says. According to him, players like Somdev Devvarman, Kyra Shroff and Akash Wagh are some of the names to watch out for in the coming years.
Paes has a strong claim to be counted among Indian sports’ all-time greats. But he doesn’t believe in such talk and says that as long as he remains happy and satisfied with the kind of effort he puts in, that is more than enough for him.
Ask Paes about post-retirement plans and he says he is working on a few things including his own sports management company. But for now, the focus remains on tennis, where it has been for the last 20 years or so.
