At 40,Leander Paes is fit and agile to win major tournaments. After his latest win in US Open, he has become the oldest male player in an open era to win a Grand Slam. Leander won the finals partnering with Radek Stepanek . For the past 27 years he has been playing Tennis with the same devotion and sincerity. Having won eight doubles and six mixed doubles Grand Slam titles and finishing as runner up in many other Grand Slam finals, he is considered to be one of the greatest and most respected contemporary doubles and mixed doubles players in the world.
The former captain of the Indian Davis Cup team, Leander is the recipient of India’s highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, in 1996–1997; the Arjuna Award in 1990; and the Padma Shri award in 2001 for his outstanding contribution to the game of tennis in India. Incidentally, he is also the sports ambassador of the state of Haryana. He also achieved the rare distinction of claiming a ‘double’ by winning the men’s doubles & mixed doubles in the 1999 Wimbledon Championship. Moreover, his consecutive Olympic appearances from 1992 to 2012 make him the first Indian and first & only tennis player to compete at six Olympic Games. Undoubtedly, today he is the best Doubles Tennis player in the world. Now, he is all set to play Chinese Open before competing in the forthcoming World Championships at London in November 2013.