Leander Paes defied the odds to win independent India’s second individual
Olympic medal at the 1996 Games. At the start of the 25th year of his win, he recalls his quest for glory that sparked India’s Olympic resurgence.
Leader Paes would have been days away from competing in his eight Olympics in a pandemicless world. But with COVID19 pushing the start of the Tokyo Olympics by a year, Paes is still unsure if his 47yearold body — after three decades of toil on the professional circuit — has the wherewithal to withstand further rigours of competitive tennis a year from now.
The lockdown, though, has given him a muchneeded break and the chance to recuperate. Paes became independent India’s second individual Olympic medallist — after wrestler Khashaba Jadhav in 1952 — when he won the bronze in singles at the Atlanta Olympics on August 3, 1996. On a rainy day in Mumbai, Paes travelled back in time with Sportstar as his iconic win — which has inspired India’s Olympic resurgence — enters its 25th year. ways dreamed of being an Olympic champion someday and as a child I would polish my father’s Olympic bronze medal every Sunday.
I would ask him about the goddess Athena, who was engraved on his medal, and what she stood for. I would also question him about the Olympic movement and what it meant to be an Olympic champion for India.
I would eye the playing jerseys of my mom and dad. Mom’s (Jennifer, the captain of India’s basketball team) jersey was No. 5, while dad’s (Vece, a member of the bronze medalwinning Indian eld hockey team at the 1972 Munich Olympics) was No. 10.
That has been my whole journey. Yes, in the way I have won 1■ Grand Slams, or have got the Davis Cup world record for India – but the one thing that I always cherish is the fact that I played for my country in seven Olympics in a row! I always wanted to emulate my father and win an Olympic medal.
With his iconic bronze medal at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 entering its 25th year on August 3, the selfdescribed Olympic baby travels back in time to relive his dream run.
from Osaka after qualifying for the singles, my father congratulated me and said, “This is going to be your rst Olympics. Enjoy and celebrate the moment...” I asked him how to go about it, since I desired to win a medal.
As he was aware of my work ethics, he also understood that it was important for me to get the experience and the handle the pressure of playing in the Olympics.
He advised me to attend the opening ceremony, the closing ceremony and also to interact with other athletes, to learn from each of their experiences. He also said, “You are going to take part in a few more Olympics, and this is your rst appearance, so I want you to experience and understand what the Olympics is all about...”
That was great advice. I had a grand time in Barcelona. It was a wonderful experience to meet and watch the legends in action. Watching Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson win the gold in basketball for the US dream team was the highlight.
It was an eyeopening experience to interact with the other athletes from other disciplines and have conversations about their training regimes and lifestyle.
That year, I played with Ramesh Krishnan in the doubles and we had a chance of winning a medal in doubles. We lost the medalwinning match to Goran Ivanisevic and Goran Prpic in the quarternal match and I remember sitting in the arena for over an hour after the match, contemplating how
I would full my dream of winning an Olympic medal.
I knew Krishnan would be retiring before the next Olympics in 1996 and I was also aware that if I I have to win a medal in the next Olympics, I had to focus on my singles.
In the next four years, I worked extremely hard for my singles and prepared my body and tennis specically for the altitude conditions I was going to face at Stone Mountain in Atlanta in 1996.
I travelled to far o countries like Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, just to make sure that my body and mind were acclimatising well.
And then, Atlanta happened!
When I got to Atlanta, on the Saturday before the opening ceremony, the draw was released and it wasn’t very kind. I was drawn to play Pete Sampras. By then, Sampras was one of the top seeds and pretty much the world No. 1! So, as the draw came out, I remember Jaidip Mukerjea — who was our nonplaying captain — told me: “Tough luck, Lee. Tough draw...” I had worked so hard for this moment and I just couldn’t let things go. Back in my head, I knew something magical was waiting to happen.
The next morning, we learnt that Sampras had pulled out of the tournament. And, Richey Reneberg was replacing him. At that point in time, Richey was not only one
of the topve doubles players in the world, he was among the top 20 in singles. It was not an easy match and he was one of the toughest opponents for me because of his style of playing.
He was an allcourt player who had a fantastic twohanded backhand. I knew it was going to be a very tough match. I lost the rst set and then won the second set, and after running him around for two sets, in the third set, when I got up for a break, Richey retired from exhaustion!
Winning this match made me realise that all the preparation I had done, leading into the Games, would unfold in the days to come. for many years. I knew exactly what to do against both Nico and TE, but when the Italian Renzo Furlan came across my path in the quarternals, I had no strategy for him, yet.
My homework told me that he was a baseliner and that he was very, very t. So I had to beat him on serveandvolley tennis because we were playing in highaltitude conditions that beneted my natural style of play. That’s exactly what I did and I managed to beat him.
And then there was the seminals. There came Andre Agassi!
at 56 (1540) and found India having two set points to win the rst set!
Down to set points, Andre hit a rst serve into my body on the backhand side, so I played a chip return down the line to his backhand and ran to the net, putting the pressure back on him.
I thought I had every passing shot covered and tempted him to go for the lowpercentage crosscourt backhand, which I also had covered.
The sheer brilliance of Andre is that, in a fraction of a second, he thought of and executed a shot, which I least expected — which was was right at my face. He hit a doublested backhand as hard as he could at my right chin. As my reaction time was limited, I tried to get out of the way and play a backhand volley into the open court, but as my wrist was in a vulnerable position, when I played that shot, the power of Andre’s doublested backhand ruptured a few tendons in my right playing wrist.
As that happened, all the power in my wrist was gone and it seemed impossible to regain the touch and feel for direction. The lack of power and lack of direction made things very dicult for me and Andre marched on...to the nal!
In Atlanta, I had to play for the bronze medal and I was drawn to play Fernando Meligeni from Brazil. He was a tenacious southpaw with a wicked lefty slice serve and a talented baseline game to match.
On my side, after the Andre match, I had my wrist wrapped in a solid cast for 24 hours to try and heal my injury as fast as I could.
On the match day morning, I went to warm up with my wrist heavily strapped and on my rst touch of the ball, I realised I was in trouble. The pain that shot through my wrist and up into my arm, was unbearable and I had to stop my warmup after the rst shot.
I went back to the doctors, trainers and my father in the locker room to ask for advise. The doctor warned me of further injury. The physio, Doug Spreen, warned me that I would jeopardise the rest of my career and after listening to both of them, I requested some solitude.
I asked my father to join me in the locker room and sought his advice. My dad said to me, “I know you are going to play. But all I am going to tell you is, do not injure yourself any further. You are already hurt, do not jeopardise your career...”
He advised me to assess the situation within the rst few games of the bronzemedal match and not push beyond, if it was impossible.
My father has always been a great source of inspiration and my closest condant. His words in the locker room that day gave me great motivation.
I went into that match knowing it was going to be all about mental strength and how much fame I could endure. In the rst set, I was very clearly unable to handle the lack of strength and control in my playing wrist and lost the rst set. In the second set, I shifted gears and was able to bounce back and win, with two breaks.
But in the third set, the pressure was really mounting as I found myself several break points down early. Fernando and I traded breaks and I knew this battle for the bronze medal was going to be about who could handle the pressure better and keep his mind calm. I was able to push my mind to a new level and also protect my injured wrist by making the rallies as short as possible.
My serve and volley, aggressive tennis, mounted the pressure on Fernando, and when his nal passing shot down match point sailed over my head and beyond the baseline, my hands went up in the air.
And the tears rolling down my cheek were not only for the triumph, but also for the pain I endured to win a medal for myself and my country. Standing on the podium with a medal around my neck, along with Andre Agassi and Sergi Bruguera, and watching the Indian ag waving at an Olympic medal ceremony is a moment I will always be proud of.