The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Somdev is India’s best bet: Leander Paes

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Somdev is India’s best bet: Leander Paes

Nandita Sridhar

Chennai: Leander Paes practised hard at the Nungambakkam Stadium Centre Court, one of his favourite hunting grounds, preparing for the 14th edition of the Chennai Open set to commence on Monday.

The 35-year-old, who will feature in the doubles draw with Lukas Dlouhy, expressed his delight in playing in Chennai and his successful partnership with Dlouhy.

Excerpts:

On returning to Chennai: It’s great to be back in a city I grew up in. I spent my early years learning tennis here. I landed here, drove through familiar roads and got goose bumps going down memory lane. Anna Flyover was definitely a landmark for me. Chennai has always been a happy hunting ground for me.

On his partnership with Lukas Dlouhy: In 2008, we played only five months. We started our campaign at the French Open, because of which we were playing catch-up. However, we managed to enter the year-end Masters Cup with good performances in Wimbledon, the Toronto Masters and the U.S. Open. All credit should go to Lukas.

He played amazing tennis throughout the year. We share an excellent chemistry. Lukas has good groundstrokes and his backhand is amazing which works really well with my style. I have had several doubles partners and Lukas is right up there.

On coach Rick Leach: We found a great coach in Rick Leach. He has nine Grand Slam titles and is a former No. 1.When I was young, I learnt a lot about doubles after watching him play. Throughout his career Leach played with different partners and all his partnerships were successful. From him, I learnt how to adapt to different partners with different styles. I’ve played with a lot of partners myself, so his experience helps a lot.

On his expectations from a coach as this stage of his career: At 35, what I’m looking at is someone who makes sure I go to the gym everyday and do my yoga everyday, which means I am still capable of competing against 18 and 19-year-olds. I am still confident of winning Grand Slams.

Rick is impeccable. Lukas is a predominantly singles player but picked up his doubles game tremendously under him. Rick has plenty of doubles tactics up his sleeve. Most importantly, I have a great equation with him.

On his life off the court: I run my own sports management company. I manage some cricketers like Sanath Jayasuriya and Muttiah Muralitharan and raise funds. I design clothes, work on sports infrastructure. I have a lot on my plate at the moment and I enjoy doing it.

On his future goals: As I get to the final 100 yards of my career, I think I have about four years left in me.

Playing in my sixth Olympics will be a fantastic achievement. Only a few athletes in the world have done that. To play six Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games in 2010 would be great.

People might think you can’t learn new things when you have a career spanning 22 years. But for me, I am a student of life.

On the future of Indian tennis after Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi: No doubt, Somdev Dev Varman. He is a clean boy and works hard. He is conscientious about his work ethic. Most importantly, he has got some good people around him. He is the ideal player to carry the mantle of Indian tennis on his shoulders.

On his focus for 2009: I am going to focus on two tournaments in 2009 — the Australian Open and the year-end Masters — because these are the trophies missing from my cabinet.

On his best memory of the Chennai Open: It would have to be my singles run in 1998 when I played well before losing to Pat Rafter in the semifinals.

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