Leander Paes
Last updated on: 20 November 2014 Signature of Leander Paes. Leander Adrian Paes (born 17 June 1973) is an Indian professional tennis player who typically plays in doubles events on the ATP Tour and Davis Cup. Having won eight doubles and seven mixed doubles Grand Slam titles and finishing as runner up in numerous 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. He is the oldest man to have won a grand slam title. He is among the most successful professional Indian tennis players and is also the former captain of the Indian Davis Cup team. He 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 tennis in India. Paes completed the career grand slam in men's doubles after winning the Australian Open in 2012. He is the sports ambassador of the Indian state of Haryana. Apart from his fifteen Grand Slam victories in doubles and mixed doubles events, he is famous for his several memorable Davis Cup performances playing for India and also for winning a bronze medal for India in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. He also achieved the rare men's doubles/mixed doubles double at the 1999 Wimbledon tournament. His consecutive Olympic appearances from 1992 to 2012 make him the first Indian and first & only tennis player to compete at six Olympic Games (shooters Karni Singh and Randhir Singh and luger Shiva Keshavan earlier competed in five Olympics Games). After winning the mixed doubles Wimbledon title in 2010, Paes became only the second man (after Rod Laver) to win Wimbledon titles in three different decades. 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 athletes from India in winning Olympic medals. Apart from the ATP circuit, he also plays in World TeamTennis for the Washington Kastles, being on the 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 championship teams. The 2011 and 2012 Kastles are the only team to complete an undefeated season at 16–0 and the Kastles did it in back to back years. They are the only professional sports team in history to complete back-to-back undefeated seasons and went on to win 34 matches in a row. This set the record for the most consecutive game/match wins by a major pro sports team. He was named Male MVP for 2009 and 2011 for all of World Team Tennis.