Into the sunset with Paes of mind

Tennis ace recalls good times in his long, illustrious career and talks about plans after bidding goodbye to sport

Leander Paes (File | EPS)

BENGALURU: As Leander Paes walks into the KSLTA Stadium, nostalgia pours in from different walks of life. If a Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association member reminisces how good he was during his earlier days back in 1991, some in the Bengaluru Open audience talk about him dismantling Serbian pair of Ilija Bozoljac and Nenad Zimonjic partnering Rohan Bopanna in a five-set battle, despite trailing 1-2 in 2014. 

Three decades, 18 Grand Slam titles, an Olympic bronze, and record doubles wins (43) in Davis Cup later; Paes has decided to pull the curtains down on his long illustrious career. The 46-year-old will potentially play his last ATP tournament on Indian soil at the Bengaluru Open, where he will partner Australia’s Matthew Ebden.

Paes understands his body has given up on his desire to stretch to another season and he is now ready for one last tour (‘roar’) but this time it’s more about showcasing himself to the fans rather than winning a Challenger title. On Tuesday, Paes appeared for a practice session and as he spoke about his journey and what it means to finally call it quits, he burst into tears. Excerpts.

•  Memories of Bengaluru
• It’s been such a long body of work. It takes a while to remember some of the events I’ve played here. To me, playing at KSLTA has been an emotion. This season, I want to play in places that mean something to me where I have had great memories and Bengaluru has always been a real treat to come back to. It’s one of my favourite hunting grounds, especially playing here back in the Davis Cup against Serbians where we came from two sets to one down and won in five sets. 
•  On second thought
• My whole team is trying to convince me to continue. I think there is a time and place for everything. But I will leave a career that has been well played with the tri-colour on my sleeves every time. A few kids out there, who I’ve been able to motivate, that’s been my motive of living life real and honest.
•  On the last season
• I know if I wanted to play another 2-3 years, I could. I can do the tennis and fitness bit of it but the hard yards of travel, and my team has also disintegrated at the moment. Hence, travelling alone is no fun after 30 years of doing it. 
•  On the partners he has had
• There have been a lot of people who have made me who I am today, let alone the 135 doubles partners I’ve had in the men’s game, 24 in mixed doubles. Choosing partners is something that I instinctively know. It comes from the fact that I know my strengths and weaknesses. I’ve been so blessed to have some of the greatest partners anyone could ask for. I don’t need to rattle off the names of (Martina) Navratilova, (Martina) Hingis, (Radek) Stepanek or Mahesh (Bhupathi) or other great partners I’ve had. Every single one of them has taught me something special. 
•  On life after tennis
• I want to go out there and have a great season. So, the transition is going to take over the next five years. As I look into my second innings and, I think, I have many other roars ahead of me. I built teams for each, just like in my tennis. There is a team who is going to delve into the nuances of what it has taken as a young Indian boy from Calcutta to become who I am today (writing a book). There is a team working on my documentary series. It could also be a biopic or business of sport or sports education. I feel there is a big opportunity to motivate 725 million young kids in our country. Sports education is an avenue that excites me a lot.

Poonacha stuns Rosol

National champ Niki Poonacha dumped 16th seed, Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic from the Bengaluru Open. In a second-round match, the wild-card entrant beat Rosol 6-4, 2-6, 6-3. Poonacha, ranked 1105th in the ATP rankings, used his forehand well to beat 168th ranked Rosol, who was once ranked 26th. Sumit Nagal beat Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri 6-0, 6-4 while Saketh Myneni got the better of sixth seed Evgeny Donskoy of Russia 6-3, 6-3.