There seems to be no expiry date on Leander Paes career. At 41, he is going as strong as ever, picking Grand Slam titles almost at will stunning the game’s pundits, few whom were willing to write him off as a potent force in the doubles. The Indian ace enthralled, legion of his supporters and proved his detractors wrong when he won his record 15th Grand Slam doubles title at the recent Australian Open, partnering game’s another great, Martina Hingis in the mixed doubles event.
It took all the persuasive charm of Leander to get the Swiss ace and former Women’s World No.1 Martina Hingis, who came out of retirement in 2013, to team up with him and as he says, “it took almost two years.” And when it happened, it was sheer magic. The two champions produced vintage tennis to win the mixed doubles crown.
Incidentally, Hingis had won a mixed doubles title at the Australian Open in 2006 pairing with Mahesh Bhupathi, Leander’s former men’s doubles partner. But winning with Leander Paes indeed has been a special moment for Martina Hingis, who had won three singles (from 1997 to 99), four doubles and two mixed doubles titles at the Melbourne Park. It was Leander Paes’ third Australian Open mixed doubles title and he had earlier won it in 2003 with Martina Navratilova of the United States and with Cara Black in 2010. In a career tally of seven mixed doubles titles, he has won three with Cara Black of Zimbabwe, two with Martina Navratilova one with Lisa Raymond of the US and now with Martina Hingis. In men’s doubles, he has won Grand Slam titles and maximum of three with Mahesh Bhupathi.
A delighted Martina Hingis, called him as a ‘perfect patner’ while Leander, acknowledged her role saying “we had a great chemistry and understanding”.
Leander Paes in his long and illustrious career has played with nearly 100 different partners in doubles, ranging from legend like Martina Navratilova (in mixed doubles) to a relatively unsung Vishnu Vardhan (men’s doubles). With whomsoever he plays, Leander has the ability to transfer his kinetic energy and positive attitude to his partner and that’s one of the main ingredient of his success in doubles. Leander also makes sure that his weakness, such as lack of a very powerful serve, is compensated by a strong partner, who serves strongly and a great hitter, such as Mahesh Bhupathi and Radek Stepanek
There is lot more to it in doubles, than finding a good partner. The well-known tennis coach, M. Krishna Kumar of Kinesis, who is a USPTR certified Professional and an avid admirer of Leander’s game, lists Leander’s lightning fast reflexes and good court craft as his big asset. Krishna Kumar also picks up Leander’s uncanny court craft as big plus point. “He has an exquisite court craft and Leander has the ability to pick the ball and find the right gap and angle to put it away for a winner. For that you need speed and timing and he has that ability to do that with an amazing ease,” says the coach.
Leander is a great team man, adds Krishna Kumar. “In doubles you need to complement each other well and communication is very important and Leander does that very effectively with all his partners.” Tennis fans in Bengaluru had a great time during the Davis Cup match against Serbia few months ago, watching Leander turn a losing doubles tie into a winning one with Rohan Bopanna. Two sets down, the Indians came back from cold to win that tie, with Leander taking charge of the show from the third set. Though Leander and Rohan won the doubles tie, India lost the rubber 2-3. But Leander made that doubles contest a memorable one. That never-say-die and taking charge in crunch situations makes Leander arguably the best doubles player in the World.
As years roll by, Leander’s magical show goes on and on.
