KOLKATA: It was a case of game, set and match for tennis legend-turned-political debutante Leander Paes.
The 48-year-old Olympic medalist who was born in Kolkata to a Goanese father, said he wanted to work for Goa where his roots lay, and knew TMC from his association with the City of Joy, and decided to give vent to his "passion" to work for people by joining the party ahead of elections to the tiny coastal state.
"My profession took me away from my roots and now that I have returned after retiring (from tennis) I have got this opportunity from Goa," Peas told PTI in a telephonic interview.
"My aim now is to do good for brothers and sisters of my country, I am starting that from Goa and I believe politics is the best way for that," said the winner of numerous grand slam titles in tennis.
Paes said that though there have been offers from several parties, he chose to join Trinamool Congress.
"The opportunity of joining politics has been coming to me for many years. But this time, it was the right opportunity, the correct time, I was in the right position of my life where I have finished with my tennis career and have the time, space, mind(frame) and the passion to give to this (new career in politics)," said the alumni of Kolkata's prestigious La Martiniere School and St Xavier's College.
Paes, whose father Vece Paes, played mid-field for the award winning Indian field hockey team in the 1972 Munich Olympics, won the bronze at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the first Indian to win an individual medal after 1952.
His decision to switch to politics, a quarter of a century after Atlanta, took many by surprise.
"The reason I joined TMC Goa is because of its ideology," he averred.
Several Congressmen who have also joined the TMC in Goa have spoken of the party's secular credentials as the reason for their choosing to go with party which has entered the state recently.
The Trinamool Congress announced its presence in the former Potugese enclave by inducting ex-Congress leader Luizenho Faleiro and several Congressmen into its fold in September and October this year.
Congress which had emerged as the largest single party in Goa in 2017, has since been hit by desertions to the BJP and now to the TMC.
"I have been given the opportunity by `Didi' (TMC Supremo Mamata Banerjee). We have systematic plans to better the lives of the people of Goa. I feel with all the research we have done, Goa can really be a shining state of India," the tennis star added.
Paes said he chose Goa over Kolkata as he now lives in Goa, a place where his family has historical roots.
"Now I live in Goa. My paternal roots are from Goa. My mother is from Bengal and she has Bengali heritage and my father from Goa and he has got Goanese heritage. Its lovely coming back to my roots," he said, adding "at the end of the day, I play for saffron, white and green (Indian colours)."
Showering accolades on Banerjee for working to develop the state, Peas said, "West Bengal is really well sorted. Some wonderful governance is going on in West Bengal which is the safest state in the country for women. Now, in Goa there are some great opportunities to do good things and I feel that there is a need for good, conscientious and clean governance."
Paes said he was confident "about TMC's good show" in Goa and said among plans are to work for women's safety, safe drinking water, electricity, roads and employment opportunities.
"One out of four persons in Goa does not have a job, and this can be systematically taken care of by the government creating opportunities here," he pointed out.
"At TMC Goa we have prepared a systematic plan to better the lives of Goans. And good, systematic governance is not rocket science," he claimed.
TMC has among other things, promised that if voted to power it would roll out a guaranteed income support to women.
Paes, who has already started campaigning door to door, meeting people from different walks of the society, said candidature issues will be "clear in a few days' time."
Asked how difficult it is for him to adjust to his new `passion', Paes said, "though politics is very different from tennis," there are "certain points I can relate to".
These, he said, include "similar discipline, team game(smanship)."
"It's just the way I had played for the country in the Davis Cup, there are similar traits needed," said the tennis star, better known for his drop shots and volleying, than for his mastery on the clay court of politics.