Leander Paes becomes the most successful doubles player in Davis Cup history
What’s the story?
The ageless Leander Paes created a world record in Davis Cup when the 44-year-old became the most successful doubles player ever in the history of the competition on Saturday. He and Rohan Bopanna teamed up to notch up a comeback 5-7, 7-6(5), 7-6(3) win over China’s Mao Xin Gong and Ze Zhang at the Asia/Oceania Group I second round tie held at Tianjin, China.
The win also kept India alive in the tie after the shock losses in singles suffered by Ramkumar Ramanathan and Sumit Nagal a day earlier.
It was the 43rd Davis Cup doubles win of Paes’ illustrious career. It helped him move ahead of the Italian great Nicola Pietrangeli, with whom the Indian was tied for a long time. Not only that, the Kolkata-born tennis ace also became the sixth player to record 750 doubles wins since the inception of the ATP World Tour.
Only Mike Bryan, Daniel Nestor, Bob Bryan, Todd Woodbridge and Max Mirnyi have achieved more wins than Paes.
In case you didn’t know
The Indian veteran made his Davis Cup debut in March 1990 alongside Zeeshan Ali, who is currently India’s Davis Cup coach.
The heart of the matter
Ramanathan succumbed to a 6-7(4), 4-6 defeat to the reigning US Open junior champion Wu Yibing on Friday. It was followed by a 4-6, 1-6 loss for Nagal against Zhang Ze.
With India staring at defeat, it was left to Paes and Bopanna to bring back India into this tie. The latter had earlier refused to pair up with the former World No. 1 but was asked to change his mind by the AITA.
The Chinese combine came out firing and broke the Indians twice to grab the opening set. That could not dissuade the highly experienced Indians, who lifted their game in the tie-breaks in the next two sets to secure the vital point for India.
What’s next?
The onus now lies on Ramanathan and Nagal to forget about their setbacks on Friday and get the improbable win for India. Ramanathan faces Di Wu and the 20-year-old Nagal takes on the 18-year-old prodigy Wu Yibing.
Author’s take
Paes’ incredible longevity and passion for his sport and country are lessons for the younger generation. Hope he continues to give us more such proud moments.