Leander Paes Biography 
Leander Adrian Paes is an Indian tennis player who primarily concentrates in doubles events. He won the Australian Open 2012 in men’s doubles category. He has won seven doubles and six mixed doubles Grand Slam titles so far. He served as the former captain of the Indian Davis Cup team. He is consecutively participating in all Olympics from 1992 to 2012 that made him the only Indian and the only tennis player to participate in the six Olympic Games.
He was born on 17th June 1973 in Goa. His parents are Vece Paes and Jennifer Paes. He studied at La Martiniere at Calcutta and Madras Christian College Higher Secondary School at Chennai. He continued his higher education at Loyola College at Chennai. He married Rhea Pillai in 2005. He took his training during his earlier days at the Britannia Amritraj Tennis Academ in Chennai. He was caught into limelight when he won the 1990 Wimbledon Junior title.
He took part in 1992 Barcelona Olympics in doubles event with Ramesh Krishnan and could reach up to quarter finals. In 1993, he went up to semifinal in the US Open doubles partnering with Sebastien Lareau. From 1996, Mahesh Bhupathi became his partner and this became a winning combination.
Paes also joined Lisa Raymond and won the mixed doubles at Wimbledon. He soon went on to reach number one rank in doubles. His partnership with Bhupathi won French Open in 2001 and gold medal at the 2002 Asian Games held at Busan. In 2003, he was able to win mixed doubles event at Australian Open and Wimbledon with Martina Navaratilova.
In went up to quarterfinals in 2008 Beijing Olympics partnering with Bhupathi. He also grabbed the title in mixed doubles with Cara Black in 2008 US Open and 2010 Australian Open. He started to participate in Davis Cup tournaments from his age of 16 and won many times.
In recognition to his talents in sports, the Government of India honored him with the Arjuna Award in 1990, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in 1996-97 and the Padma Shri award in 2001. He made his film debut in the film Rajdhani Express by Ashok Kohli playing the part of a terrorist.
Published: N/A
Updated: August 01, 2012
