Leander Paes hails his partner Vishnu Vardhan after the Olympics loss – Tennis News
Most successful tennis player in India’s history, Leander Paes, has praised his Olympics doubles partner, Vishnu Vardhan, for playing bravely at the London Games.
Paes’ dream of winning a Gold Medal for his country could not be materialised, as he and Vardhan lost to French duo of Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round of the doubles event at London Olympics.
However, they did not go down without a fight, giving their opponents a run for their money. After losing the first set 6-7, Paes and Vardhan captured the second one 6-4 to come on equal terms but they were unable to carry the
winning momentum into the decider, losing it 3-6.
Paes said in his latest interview, "I have to commend this guy Vishnu he's got a big heart and I've had such a thrill playing with him. He's a phenomenal competitor and he's got big stature as far as physique and things go and
that is what champions are made of."
These two were playing together for the first time, as Vardhan was partnered with Paes after his more seasoned countrymen, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna, refused to play with the multiple-time Grand Slam winner. Vardhan is
the Indian number five player and he had no experience of playing at the big stage before this event. The 25-year-old is at 304th position in singles and 240th in doubles in the ATP Rankings.
In the first round, Paes and Vardhan had beaten a more experienced pair of Robin Haase and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands in three sets 7-6, 4-6, 6-2.
Paes added, "Being the first time that we have played together as a team, we've played a h**l of a match again. Our first-round match was against some really tough opponents with one player No.33 in the world in singles (Robin
Hasse) and the other No.21 in doubles (Jean-Julien Rojer), and we managed to beat them."
At first, Paes had protested on being partnered with a junior player. During the partnership controversy, when Bhupathi and Bopanna had already rejected All India Tennis Association’s offer of playing with Paes, it was being discussed
that Paes might be partnered with Vishnu. Paes had warned at that time that he would boycott the biggest sports event in the world if he was made to play with a junior player. However, the Indian star agreed on partnering Vishnu at the mega event later.
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