Australian Open: Frustrated Leander Paes strangles opponent Sam Groth with his bare hands as crowd cheers
Leander Paes' and Martina Hingis' journey in the 2017 Australian Open came to an end today after they were defeated by local favourites Sam Groth and Samantha Stosur in the quarter-finals in straight sets 6-3, 6-2.
Though the match was a one-sided affair, Leander who is a crowd favourite ensured that the people in attendance at the Margaret Court Arena got to witness some of his antics at the players chill out zone.
During the interval between the second set, Leander realised that the match was slipping away from him. He marched up to the players' chillout zone of his opponent Sam Groth and vented out his frustration by trying to throttle him with his bare hands. Sam, once a partner of Leander, sportingly played along and pretended to being choked to death.
Standing by, Samantha Stosur burst out laughing along with the crowd who applauded Leander's comic act.
That despite knowing he was just a few games away from losing the quarter-final, Leander was able to indulge in light-hearted theatrics is probably why he is talked of as one of the most respected people in the locker room.
With this defeat, Leander Paes now has to wait till the French Open to claim his 11th Mixed-Doubles Grand Slam.
Leander Paes and Martina Hingis won the Australian Open in 2015. Paes has won the Australian Open on four different occasions (three Mixed Doubles Grandslam and a Men's Doubles Grandslam) in the past.
Paes also hold a joint record along with Martina Navratilova of having won the most number of Mixed Doubles Grandslams (10) in the Open Era.