Happy Birthday Leander Paes!!!
Leander Paes, the world's legendary tennis player, has made india proud with his success. In the 1990s, when everyone was trying to idolize cricket players like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and rahul Dravid, at that time, Paes created panic by winning the bronze medal in the 1996 Atlanta olympics, after which his name started resonating in the world.
At the Atlanta olympics, he created history by winning the bronze medal in the singles at that time by beating the 23-year-old pace giants. india won the Olympic medal in the individual event after waiting for 44 years. In olympics, Paes had also entered doubles with Mahesh Bhupathi but lost there in the second round itself.
Paes was born in an athlete family. His father Wes Paes was the midfielder of the indian hockey team that won the bronze medal at the 1972 Munich Olympics. At the same time, his mother Jennifer Paes was the captain of the indian team in the 1980 Asian basketball Championship. In 1991, at the age of just 18, Paes won the junior US Open and then the junior Wimbledon title. In the same year, junior became the world's number one player. The next year in 1992, Paes participated in the Barcelona olympics with Ramesh Krishnan.
Paes has won 8 Men's Doubles Grand Slam and 10 Mixed Doubles Grand Slam titles in his career. This player has also won Grand Slam titles along with legendary female tennis players like Martin Navratilova and Martina Hingis. In 2016, Paes won his last Grand Slam title at the age of 42. Paes has won 18 Grand Slams and 44 Davis Cup matches in his career spanning 30 years. Paes was the first indian player to become number one in the ATP doubles rankings.
Paes was awarded the arjuna Award in 1990, the rajiv gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 1996, the Padma in 2001, and the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest honor, in 2014.
