Leander Paes: Doubles maestro, International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee

The journey of 2024 International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee Leander Paes might best be summarized by the name of an album that came out within a year of his birth: Steely Dan’s Pretzel Logic. Call the story of Paes at once rational and, like a pretzel, braided.

Unquestionably, Paes is being inducted for his prolific achievements in doubles. His resume features a whopping tally of 18 doubles majors: eight in men’s, 10 in mixed. That includes victories at all four majors in both disciplines.

His parents excelled in team sports, and he was drilled in the fundamentals of collaboration—demonstrated strongly by his ability to blend well with a range of partners. Between 1999 and 2016, Paes won majors with eight different players: four apiece in men’s (Mahesh Bhupathi, Lukas Dlouhy, Martin Damm, Radek Stepanek) and mixed (Lisa Raymond, Martina Navratilova, Cara Black, Martina Hingis).

Winning is not about being the most talented or being the most gifted or having the most opportunities, I think winning is about how hard you can get hit, how many times you can fall down and still stand up, dust yourself off and keep going again. Leander Paes

Paes’ playing style was a captivating smorgasbord of speeds, spins, angles and surprises. Whenever Paes took the court, he could just about always be counted on to come up with at least one mind-blowing sequence of shots.

“It’s just the magic of being able to make that tennis ball dance to your rhythm,” Paes said earlier this year in an International Tennis Hall of Fame interview. “Whatever your style is, big inside-out forehand, double-hand backhand, single-hand backhand, topspin, slice, kick-serve, slicer, didn’t matter. It’s tennis. Didn’t matter if you're a serve or volleyer or a baseliner, it’s tennis.”

The twist took place in another realm. Paes’ career-high singles ranking was No. 73. But there came a singular singles moment that meant the world to him.

In 1996, at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Paes set his sights on earning a medal. His affinity for the Olympics had deep roots, for that was where Paes’ parents, Jennifer and Vece, met (during the 1972 Summer Games in Munich). Jennifer was captain of India’s women’s basketball team, Vece played field hockey. Nine months following those Olympics, Leander entered the world, June 17, 1973.

With the Atlanta tennis event being played in both mild altitude (nearly 1,700 feet) and excessively humid conditions, Paes prepared rigorously.

“I spent four years playing in altitude conditions in Guayaquil, Colombia, in Quito, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, in places like Nagoya, Japan,” said Paes. “I went all across the globe looking at these same kind of altitude conditions that I could prepare my lungs, prepare my legs, prepare my style of playing to serve and volley and be prepared for Atlanta, Georgia.”

When the moment came, Paes was ready. Ranked 126^th, Paes won four matches to reach the semis. There, he strongly tested Andre Agassi, holding two set points before losing 7-6 (5), 6-3.

Playing Fernando Meligeni for the bronze, Paes fought back to win, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4—an amazing effort given that Paes had torn tendons in his wrist while playing Agassi. That victory made Paes the first Indian in 44 years to win an Olympic medal in an individual sport.

Paes found his partnership with Navratilova particularly inspiring, as he had looked up to her in his childhood as a stylistic role model.

“Martina Navratilova is the greatest inspiration any human being can have,” said Paes. “She epitomizes what a human being should be, true to themselves.”

Paired with Navratilova, Paes won mixed doubles titles in 2003 at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. Alas, it was during Wimbledon that Paes felt the first symptoms of a what soon diagnosed as a brain lesion. In time, though, the lesion was revealed to be benign. By the end of the year, Paes had regained his health and resumed his career.

More than a decade later, Paes paired with the second great Martina—Hingis—to win four mixed majors (2015 Australian Open, ’15 Wimbledon, ’15 US Open, ’16 Roland Garros).

“I pride myself on being a student of life. I think I can take more pain than most people in the world. I think I take more loneliness than more people in the world,” said Paes. “Winning is not about being the most talented or being the most gifted or having the most opportunities, I think winning is about how hard you can get hit, how many times you can fall down and still stand up, dust yourself off and keep going again.”

Over the span of an epic career, Paes has done that magnificently.