Leander Paes
Leander Paes has earned sobriquets of ‘ageless’ and ‘evergreen’, which may not be wildly novel or creative but fit him to the proverbial T.
Paes, the grand old man of the doubles court, is scheduled to appear in yet another Davis Cup tennis tournament in the men’s doubles format and will be gunning for a record 43 victory.
Earlier, Leander Paes made history by winning the French Open 2016 mixed doubles title with Swiss partner Martina Hingis to notch up their Career Grand Slam in the format.
The veteran star now has 18 Grand Slam trophies, the most by an Indian.
Leander Paes and Martina Hingis
ALSO READ: French Open: Paes-Hingis make history, win Career Grand Slam
Leander Paes ties the record for most Davis Cup doubles wins in history – 42 – with Nicola Pietrengeli.
His first success in doubles came with his partner of long Mahesh Bhupathi 16 years ago in 1999 at the French Open.
In 2015, he won 3 Grand Slams — the Wimbledon with Hingis.
He has won ten mixed doubles major titles and now equals tennis legend Martina Navratilova.
Here is the full list of Paes’ Grand Slam trophies (1999 to 2015)
Mixed doubles (10 titles)
Four with Martina Hingis, 3 with Cara Black, 2 with Martina Navratilova, 1 with Lisa Raymond
— 1999 Wimbledon with Lisa Raymond (USA)
— 2003 Australian Open with Martina Navratilova (USA)
— 2003 Wimbledon with Navratilova
— 2008 US Open with Cara Black (Zimbabwe)
— 2010 Australian Open with Cara
— 2010 Wimbledon with Cara
— 2015 Australian Open with Martina Hingis (Switzerland)
— 2015 Wimbledon with Hingis
— 2015 US Open with Hingis
— 2016 French Open with Hingis
Men’s doubles (8 titles)
– 3 with Mahesh Bhupathi, 2 with Lukas Dlouhy and Radek Stepanek, 1 with Martin Damm.
— 1999 French Open with Mahesh Bhupathi (India)
— 1999 Wimbledon with Bhupathi
— 2001 French Open with Bhupathi
— 2006 US Open with Martin Damm (Czech Republic)
— 2009 French Open with Lukas Dlouhy (Czech Republic)
— 2009 US Open with Dlouhy
— 2012 Australian Open with Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic)
— 2013 US Open with Stepanek
OTHER RECORDS AND TRIVIA:
India’s tennis hero Leander Paes has played with 100 different partners on the ATP circuit. When Paes took court with Marcel Granollers at the Aegon Open in Nottingham, in June 2015, the Spaniard was his 100th partner.
As a junior player, Paes won the Junior US Open and Wimbledon and was ranked No 1 in that division.
Paes has received India’s highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in 1996–1997. He has also been honoured with the Arjuna Award in 1990 and the Padma Shri award in 2001.
Paes has acted in a Bollywood film — ‘Rajdhani Express’ — in 2012.
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