India has more tennis Sensations beside Sania mirza meet Leander Paes
A professional tennis player from India Leander Adrian Paes was born on 17 June, 1973. He currently plays in ATP tours, Davis Cup as well as in doubles event. He is recognized as one of the most successful professional tennis players particularly in India. Paes has led the Davis Cup team of India.
The young tennis star Paes was born and raised in Calcutta. His family belongs to a Christian community in Calcutta. The Indian tennis ace got his early education from La Martiniere Calcutta and later on from St. Xavier’s college of the University of Calcutta. Both of his parents were sports people. Paes’s father during his young age was a midfielder while his mother led the Indian national team in the Basket Ball Championship in 1980. He clearly inherited a love for sports.
In 1985, Paes was registered in the Britannia Amritraj Tennis Academy located in Madras. Dave O Meara gave him coaching classes. The academy had a strong influence in the playing style of Paes during the early part of his career. Lender’s fame raised rapidly after his victory at the 1990 Wimbledon. With that success, his junior rankings rose to number 1 in the world.
Paes showed his tennis talent to the world early on in his career by winning Wimbledon as well as US Open at the junior level. Following his successive tours, the young man turned pro in 1991. After one year, Paes along with his partner Ramesh Krishnan made his way into the Barcelona Olympics quarter finals of the doubles tour.
Towards the start of 1996, Paes emerged as a much better player by winning the Atlanta Olympics where he defeated Fernando Meligeni to snatch the Bronze medal. He also set up the record to be the first Indian national who has managed to grab a medal at that time. KD Jadhav did it earlier in the 1952 Helisinki Olympics.
Paes made his way into the semi finals of the US Open doubles in 1993 along with his partner Sebastien Lareau. After playing reasonably well in the year 1994, Paes reached the quarter finals of the Australian Open doubles in 1995 along with his partner Kevin Ullyet. From 1996 onwards, the tennis ace has made his way into the semi final of the US Open, three grand slams semi finals, the Australian Open, ATP singles title, Wimbledon, French Open and a couple of other ones.
The right handed tennis player has a good Grand Slam record so far winning several mixed as well as double events. In 1996-1997, the Indian tennis player has been given the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award which is considered the highest sporting honor in India. Apart from that, Paes has also received the Arjuna Award as well as the Padma Shri award in 1990 and 2001 respectively for his achievements in the game of tennis in India.
The Indian tennis star has so far won eleven doubles and mixed doubles Grand Slam events in his career. The player has also represented India in various Davis Cup Tournaments. In 1996, Paes won a bronze medal in the Atlanta Olympic Games. Moreover, the Indian player has also won the mixed doubles double / the rare men’s double matches at Wimbledon in 1999. The man has consistently appeared in Olympics from 1992 to 2008 which makes him the third Indian national to contest at Olympic Games for five consecutive times after Randhir Singh and Karni Singh.
The tennis sensation is a grandson of Micheal Madhusudan Dutt who is a famous and renowned Bengali poet and is now happily married to Rhea Pillai. They have a small family including one daughter Aiyana Paes.
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