Leander Paes to bid farewell to professional tennis in 2020
What's the story?
Indian tennis legend Leander Paes has announced that the upcoming 2020 season will be his last season on the professional tennis circuit after being active since 1991, bringing an end to an illustrious 29-year career in the sport.
The background
Leander Paes announced via his social media accounts that he will retire at the end of the 2020 tennis season and will be playing a few selected tournaments during the year.
Paes rose to prominence early on in his career as a Junior singles player winning the Junior Wimbledon and Junior US Open that saw him reach the No.1 in the World Junior rankings. He went on to win a Bronze medal in Men's Singles event at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics becoming the first Indian to win an individual medal at the Olympics since KD Jadhav won at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
The heart of the matter
Leander Paes has decided that 2020 will be his last season as a professional tennis player bringing his storied career to an end.
Leander Paes continued to play in the Singles events after his Olympics medal but did not find much success at the Grand Slams and decided to pursue the Doubles game. He formed a famous partnership dubbed the "Indian Express" with fellow Indian Mahesh Bhupathi and the pair won a lot of titles on the circuit.
He also formed successful pairing with players like Martina Navratilova, Cara Black and Martina Hingis for the Mixed Doubles events.
Paes is the most successful Indian doubles tennis player with multiple partners over the years winning a total of 18 Grand Slam titles - 8 Doubles and 10 Mixed Doubles. In addition to the numerous titles, he also holds the record for most consecutive wins in the Davis Cup with 24 with Mahesh Bhupathi alongside him.
What's next?
Leander Paes will play only select tournaments in the 2020 tennis season and aim to end his career on a high rounding off a successful journey that saw him rise to become one of the best Doubles tennis players ever.