Leander Adrian Paes is an Indian former professional tennis player and the first Asian man to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players of all time and holds the record for the most doubles wins in the Davis Cup. Paes won eight men's doubles and ten mixed doubles Grand Slam titles. He holds a career Grand Slam in men's doubles and mixed doubles making him one of only three men in the Open era to achieve this distinction and won the rare men's/mixed double at the 1999 Wimbledon Championships. Paes, together with Mahesh Bhupathi, were the first pair in Open era history to reach the men's doubles finals of all 4 Grand Slams in the same calendar year (1999).
Paes received the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award, India's highest sporting honor, in 1996–97; the Arjuna Award in 1990; the Padma Shri award in 2001; and India's third-highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan prize, in January 2014 for his outstanding contributions to tennis. He won a bronze medal for India in men's singles at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games making him the first Asian in Olympic history to win a tennis medal and the only Indian to date.
He is a former Davis Cup team captain, where in addition to his Davis Cup all-time doubles win record with 45 victories, he also has the fourth-highest number of overall wins in Davis Cup history with 93 total victories across singles and doubles in a 30-year career for India with match wins in 4 different decades. He played in World Team Tennis for the Washington Kastles. He was on the 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 championship teams and was named Male MVP for 2009 and 2011.
In 2010, he joined the Board of Directors of Olympic Gold Quest, a foundation co-founded by Geet Sethi and Prakash Padukone to support talented Indian athletes. Leander made his film debut in Ashok Kohli's Rajdhani Express, a socio-political thriller
He was born on 17 June 1973 in Calcutta, India. His father, Vece Paes, was a field hockey player of Goan Catholic descent. His mother, Jennifer Paes, was a Bengali basketball player from Calcutta. He studied at La Martiniere Calcutta, Madras Christian College Higher Secondary School, and St. Xavier's College. His parents were both athletes. Vece was a midfield squad member in the bronze medal-winning Indian field hockey team at the 1972 Munich Olympics. His mother captained the Indian basketball team in the 1980 Asian basketball championship.
Paes retired from professional tennis in 2020, following his last Davis Cup tie in Croatia, with a record 1295 weeks spent ranked in the Top 100 in men's doubles. On July 20, 2024, he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island.
*Collected from the public domain.
* Updated on 24/03/2025
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