Leander Paes
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| Olympic medal record | |||
| Men's Tennis | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze | 1996 Atlanta | Singles | |
Leander Adrian Paes (born June 17, 1973) is currently one of the most successful professional Indian tennis players on the men's doubles and mixed doubles circuits. Most recently, partnering with Martin Damm he won 2006 US Open Men's Doubles championship in September 2006.
Leander Paes was born in Goa and brought up in Kolkata (then Calcutta). His mother, Jennifer Paes, was a renowned basketball player and captain of the Indian team in the 1980 Asian Basketball Championships. His father, Vece Paes, was a hockey midfielder representing the Indian team in the 1972 Munich Olympics that won the bronze medal.
He joined the Britannia Tennis Academy in Madras (now known as Chennai) in 1985 where he was coached by Dave O'Meara. Leander shot into international fame when he won the 1990 Wimbledon Junior and 1991 U.S. Open titles and rose to No.1 in the junior world-rankings.
He turned professional in 1991 and in 1996 won a bronze medal at the Atlanta Olympics becoming the first Indian in more than 4 decades to win an individual medal. The previous individual medalist for India was K.D. Jadhav who won a bronze in 1952.
He was ranked number 1 in doubles along with his partner Mahesh Bhupathi.
He was a joint winner of India's highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in the year 1996-1997 along with Nameirakpam Kunjarani. In 2001, he was awarded the Padma Shri.
Along with Richard Krajicek, Michael Stich, Sergi Bruguera, and Paul Haarhuis, Paes is one of the only men from Sampras' generation to have a winning head-to-head record over him.
Contents |
[edit] Grand Slam titles
[edit] Men's Doubles
| Year | Championship | Partnering | Opponents in Final | Score/Final |
| 1999 | French Open |  Mahesh Bhupathi |
 Goran Ivanisevic 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 (2) | Mahesh Bhupathi |
 Petr Pála Pavel Vízner |
7-6, 6-3 |
| 2006 | U.S. Open | Martin Damm |
 Jonas Björkman Max Mirnyi |
6-7, 6-4, 6-3 |
[edit] Mixed Doubles
| Year | Championship | Partnering | Opponents in Final | Score/Final |
| 1999 | Wimbledon | Martina Navratilova |
Jonas Björkman Anna Kournikova |
|
| 2003 | Australian Open | Martina Navratilova |
 Eleni Daniilidou Todd Woodbridge |
6-4, 7-5 |
| 2003 | Wimbledon (2) | Lisa Raymond |
 Andy Ram Anastassia Rodionova |
6-3, 6-3 |
[edit] Grand Slam record
- Doubles finalist: 1999 (w/Bhupathi), 2006 (w/Damm)
- Doubles semi-finalist: 1998
- Mixed Doubles champion: 2003 (w/Navratilova)
- Doubles champion: 1999 (w/Bhupathi), 2001 (w/Bhupathi)
- Doubles semi-finalist: 1998
- Doubles champion: 1999 (w/Bhupathi)
- Mixed Doubles champion: 1999 (w/Raymond), 2003 (w/Navratilova)
- Doubles finalist: 1999 (w/Bhupathi)
- Doubles semi-finalist: 1997
- Doubles champion: 2006 (w/Damm)
[edit] Career highlights
- 1990 - Wimbledon Boys title
- 1992 - Barcelona Olympics, reached quarter-finals of the doubles competition
- 1993 - Davis Cup, reached semi-finals
- 1996 - Atlanta Olympics, singles bronze-medallist
- 1997 - US Open doubles, reached semi-finals
- 1998 - reached doubles semi-finals of Australian, French and US Open; recorded the biggest upset win of his singles career, beating Pete Sampras at the Pilot Pen International Tennis Championships[1].
- 1999 - reached doubles finals of all the four Grand Slams partnering Mahesh Bhupathi, the first time such a feat has been achieved in the Open era and the first time since 1952, eventually winning at Wimbledon and French Open.
Mixed doubles title at Wimbledon - 2001 - French Open doubles title
- 2003 - Wimbledon and Australian Open mixed-doubles title along with Martina Navratilova
- 2004 - reached the semi-finals of the double competition at the Athens Olympics and finals of US Open doubles
- 2006 - reached Australian Open men's doubles final together with Czech Martin Damm. They lost to Americans Bob and Mike Bryan.
- 2006 - Won US Open men's doubles championship partnering with Martin Damm. They beat Jonas Bjorkman/Max Mirnyi pair 6-7,6-4,6-3 to win the title on September 9th 2006
- 2006 - Won the men's doubles Gold in Asian Games, Doha championship partnering with Mahesh Bhupathi. They defeated the Thailand Pair of Sanchai Ratiwatana/Sonchat Ratiwatana 5-7,7-6(9-7),6-3 to win the title on December 13th 2006.
- 2006 - Won the mixed doubles Gold in Asian Games, Doha championship partnering with Sania Mirza. They defeated the Japanese Pair of Akiko Morigami/Satoshi Iwabuchi 7-5,5-7,6-2 to win the title on December 13th 2006.
[edit] External links
- Leander Paes Fan Site
- ATP Tour profile for Leander Paes
Categories: 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
