Leander Paes

Leander Paes

Leander Adrian Paes (Bengali: লিয়েন্ডার পেজ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian professional tennis player who currently features in the doubles events in the ATP tour and the Davis Cup tournament. Having won seven doubles and six mixed doubles Grand Slam titles and finishing as runner up in numerous other Grand Slam finals, he is considered to be one of the greatest and most respected contemporary doubles and mixed doubles players in the world. He is among the most successful professional Indian tennis players and is also the former captain of the Indian Davis Cup team. He is the recipient of India's highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, in 1996–1997; the Arjuna Award in 1990; and the Padma Shri award in 2001 for his outstanding contribution to tennis in India. Paes completed the career grand slam in men's doubles after winning the Australian Open in 2012. Paes is a direct descendant of the Bengali poet Michael Madhusudan Dutt. He is the sports ambassador of the Indian state of Haryana.

Apart from his thirteen Grand Slam victories in doubles and mixed doubles events, he is famous for his several memorable Davis Cup performances playing for India and also for winning a bronze medal for India in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. He also achieved the rare men's doubles/mixed doubles double in the 1999 Wimbledon. His consecutive Olympic appearances from 1992 to 2012 make him the first Indian and first & only tennis player to compete at six Olympic Games (shooters Karni Singh and Randhir Singh earlier competed in five Olympics Games). After winning the mixed doubles Wimbledon title in 2010, Paes became only the second man (after Rod Laver) to win Wimbledon titles in three different decades. In 2010, he joined the Board of Directors of Olympic Gold Quest, a foundation co-founded by Geet Sethi and Prakash Padukone to support talented athletes from India in winning Olympic medals. Apart from the ATP circuit, he also plays in the World TeamTennis competition for Washington Kastles, the team which won the 2009 and 2011 season contest, the latter of which being the first team to complete an undefeated season at 16–0. He was named as MVP of the tournament for the years 2009 and 2011.