Leander Paes
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Paes’ doubles partners
The Times of India, June 26 2015
Amitava Dasgupta
It was a rare `century' but one which was inevitable. Only , the 100th partner, Spaniard Marcel Granollers, was not one Leander Paes had bargained for and came a little sooner than he had anticipated and calculated. The milestone had been on his mind since the end of last year. Had everything gone as per his wish, Paes would have had Novak Djokovic as his 100th partner, sometime after the US Open this year. “Many top players have expressed interest in being my 100th partner. I've spoken to Novak also, he's very keen... We have to find a suitable week when he can play with me,“ Paes said at the start of the season.
Having ended 2014 at a 15-year low of world No. 28, Paes teamed up with South African Raven Klaasen -his 99th partner -and regained some lost ground to climb back into the top 20 of the doubles rankings. But then their form dipped and even another change in partner -Canadian veteran Daniel Nestor -midway through the season is yet to yield the desired results.
With Nestor deciding to take a break the week before Wimbledon, Paes wouldn't normally have played the Nottingham meet. But these are worrying times for the 42-year-old Indian who is still driven by the desire to play his seventh Olympic Games -at Rio next year.And to fulfil that dream, Paes has to garner as many ranking points as he can to stop the freefall. And so he had no choice but to pair up with whoever was `free' this week -It happened to be the 29-year-old Spaniard. Paes is the 47th tennis player to reach a `century' of partners but few have been as successful as the Indian. Fifteen Grand Slam doubles titles, including 8 in men's doubles, and 54 career doubles titles on the pro Tour in a career spanning 25 years is testimony to Paes's resilience and willpower. “It means I've had a very long career,“ Paes, who reached 700 men's doubles match wins recently at the French Open, said after making the Nottingham Open quarters. “It's been a very blessed journey to go through 25 years and 100 partners.“
Top seeds Paes and Granollers were knocked out of the ATP Aegon Open following a quarterfinal defeat against unseeded Chris Guccione and Andre Sa, here. Paes and Granollers, the 100th partner of the Indian, lost 4-6, 6-3, 7-10 to Australian-Brazilian team in the grasscourt event.
2015: Wimbledon
Leander Paes wins 16th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon
Jul 12, 2015
LONDON: A vintage Leander Paes clinched his 16th Grand Slam trophy, winning the mixed doubles event of the Wimbledon Championship with legendary Martina Hingis after a dominating win over Alexander Peya and Timea Babos.
Seventh seed Indo-Swiss pair drubbed the fifth seed Austrian-Hungarian team 6-1 6-1 in the lop-sided summit clash which was over in just 40 minutes.
It was Paes' eighth mixed doubles title and second with Hingis. They had won the Australian Open early this year.
42-year-old Paes has eight men's doubles crowns in his Grand Slam collection.
Paes' win capped an incredibly successful Wimbledon for India as the country took three titles this year. Sania Mirza won the women's doubles and Saumit Nagal won the junior boys doubles trophy.
Paes and Hingis literally toyed with Peya and Babos, who surprisingly failed to put any resistance.
In no time Paes and Hingis pocketed the first set as all they needed was 19 minutes to nose ahead. Two broke Babos in the fourth game and Peya in the sixth for a 5-1 cushion. Hingis served out the set when Paes smashed a volley winner.
Paes and Hingis kept the pressure on the Austrian- American combination right from the first game of the second set. Peya failed to negotiate a Paes return at deuce to hand the seventh seeds grabbed the opportunity to break them.
Babos' could not handle a Hingis return and the Indo- Swiss pair got an early break. There was no stopping them from there as they raced to victory in less than one hour.
Babos failed to hold her serve even once and it was on her return that Paes hit a deft backhand volley winner to close the contest.
