LEE’S MAGIC
42
Number of wins by Italian great Nicola Pietrangeli, whose record Paes broke
24
The unbeaten streak by Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi in Davis Cup — a record
18
Doubles (8) and mixed doubles (10) titles won by Paes, who is also the oldest to win one
NEW DELHI: Leander Paes, who began his Davis Cup journey in 1990, has now placed himself on a pedestal from where it will require a superhuman effort to displace him. He is 44 now, with a world record 43 doubles wins in Davis Cup to his credit. His contemporaries, and even some who started their careers long after him, have hung their racquets but Paes continues to “re-invent” his game and add power in his legs to pull India through. He did it on Saturday again and in the process earned a win which made him the most successful doubles player in the history of Davis Cup.
Serving at 5-6 in the decisive third set, Paes and Rohan Bopanna were down 0-30 - two points away from a defeat which would have embarrassed the nation - but they logged four points to keep India in hunt.
It inspired Ramkumar Ramanathan and Prajnesh Gunneswaran to produce reverse singles wins as India clinched a memorable win.
GREAT ACHIEVEMENT
“What a fabulous motivation. It is great to achieve the world record. I dedicate this record to my father, my parents, my daughter Aiyana, to every single Davis Captain I had and to every Davis Cup doubles partner I had and this world record belongs to India,” Paes said.
“I am so proud of being son of the soil and playing so long. Many many hard years of efforts, lots of ups and downs. I had to be very resilient.”
He is already the most decorated Indian tennis player with 18 Grand Slam titles.
“It is difficult to put in words after this win from 0-2 down. I had to play three matches for 16 years - two singles and one doubles. And now to go out there as one of the senior-most players of the team to motivate the boys, I take this responsibility very seriously. “I hope with this record I can inspire lots of youngsters in whichever field they play or work in to believe that we Indians can be the world beaters and I can prove that Indians can be world champions,” was all he could say.
Saturday’s results: Rubber 3 – Leander Paes/rohan Bopanna bt Mao Xin Gong/ Ze Zhang 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3); Rubber 4 - R Ramanathan bt Di Wu 7-6(4), 6-3; Rubber 5 - P Gunneswaran bt Yibing Wu 6-4, 6-2; India bt China 3-2