There is a sense of shock and awe every time Leander Paes wins a Grand Slam. Shock that at his age—he is 41 now—he continues to win. Awe because he continues to make it look easy (you saw that casual behind-the-back volley that plonked right inside the sideline during the semi-final of the Australian Open mixed doubles, right?) Not an interview goes by when he’s not asked how he does it.

The man himself—just back after winning his 15th Slam, the Australian Open mixed doubles title with Martina Hingis—meets the question with an element of incredulity. Why shouldn’t I win?

It’s not a sense of entitlement, but the expected outcome of a process. A continuous, persistent and meticulous devotion to training, playing and thinking about tennis that began over three decades ago and has shown little sign of decelarating.

“If you have actually lived it day to day, you realize it is going to happen," he says. “If you train hard enough to be a professional athlete, you are going to get there."

Even by elite-sport standards, Paes’ training had started early—before he had learnt to crawl. His father Vece Paes, a doctor, hung balls of different colours, sizes and weights on the cradle to develop his hand-eye coordination. He was introduced to reflex training at 7, and speed drills at 10.

“According to sports scientists, reflexes begin to slow down after the age of 8," Dr Paes says. As a child, Paes did a lot of reflex exercises, hitting against the wall from close quarters or doing catching drills. One of the exercises involved dropping a ruler, and catching it before it hit the ground.

“I used to play a lot of video games as a kid too," Paes says. “Dad used to give me some money every day to go and play video games; for me it was fun, but what he was already working on was hand-eye coordination and reflexes."

View Full Image Leander Paes with Martina Hingis at the 2015 Australian Open. Photo: Paul Crock/AFP

Perhaps genes played a role: “Leander was born with fast-twitch fibres," says his father. Dr Paes was a hockey player, part of the Olympic bronze-winning team at the 1972 Munich Games. His wife Jennifer was a national basketball player and captain.

“We had a strong team of coaches and trainers looking after him from an early age and giving him the support he needed," Dr Paes says. “But despite all of that, it’s his sheer competitiveness that has kept him going."

Competitiveness. It’s the one word that has governed his career more than any. A competitiveness so edgy and hard core that it often comes across as egoistic to a fault.

“It is probably not ego, it is the pride of performance," Paes says. “The hard work one’s put in, the years that one’s persevered. The respect I have for my coaches and teachers, who have helped me, and who continue to take time away from their families to help my career. That pride of performance is for all these reasons. I continue to be a student of the game, of life."

In Melbourne, during the Australian Open from 19 January-1 February, Paes had Hingis, one of the brightest talents of the game, on his side of the court, and Martina Navratilova, one of the all-time greats, in his corner. But a key lesson, possibly the missing piece of the puzzle, came from a wheelchair player, Gordon Reid.

“In Chennai and Auckland I kept on chipping my backhand, I didn’t have my roll return," Paes says. “In the men’s doubles in Melbourne (with Raven Klaasen), we lost to the eventual champions (Fabio Fognini and Simone Bolelli) even after winning the first set only because I wasn’t hitting my backhand return.

“And then I came into the indoor courts to practise. I saw these two wheelchair players doing 4-minute drills. Gordon (Reid) is left-handed, and his upper body is big, strong. He was hitting the forehand normal, but on the backhand he was hitting on the same side of the racket, so it wasn’t turning over. It showed how the upper body, and the acceleration of the upper body, can create so much control. I realized that by accelerating more you get more spin, more spin means more control. I had been trying to get control by swinging slowly and the ball was flying on me."

Paes let the backhands rip from then on, bringing a much needed stability to his returns. It was crucial that he held that end up, especially in the mixed doubles final when he faced familiar foe Daniel Nestor. The Canadian, 42, is every bit as experienced as Paes in doubles play and serves with venom.

But Paes and Hingis, seeded seventh, steered past that minefield impressively to beat Nestor and his French partner, Kristina Mladenovic, 6-4, 6-3. In their first major together, Paes and Hingis, two of the savviest minds in tennis, had not only claimed the title, but claimed it without dropping a set.

“That was special, that was huge," says Paes. “It’s about discovering new highs all the time. At this level, to play the best in the world and not lose a set! Especially in this scoring format, with the no-ad rule, where it’s one game, one shot away.

“Looking at our individual careers, I knew it (the partnership with Hingis) would click. Also Martina and myself are undefeated in World Team Tennis (a league-format tournament in the US) over the past two-three seasons. I have been asking her for the last three years to play (mixed doubles in Slams). What makes Martina so unique is her humility. For someone who has won so much, she was humble enough to say, ‘No, no I’m scared to play with you because, what if you lose?’ Also I think there was a certain stress (because) I had achieved so much with (Martina) Navratilova, who is one of her heroes and whom she was named after, that she had to live up to that."

“Last year I was going through such a rough time with my personal life," he says. “My team, my core team, they helped to still enjoy what I do and keep my head above water in the toughest times. And everyone goes through hardships. We can’t control when adversity comes. But now that one’s got perspective of the whole thing, I know what I want out of it. Tennis is my bread and butter, it’s how I earn my living. And I want to keep enjoying it."

He was quick to get back on track, playing in the Champions Tennis League to make up for the lack of match time during the season late last year, and training rigorously in the off-season. “Putting it in perspective, 2015 has already been, in the first month of the year, better than the whole of 2014."

It can be seen in the dips and peaks of his ranking as well—he began 2014 at No.9 but found himself down at No.35 by September. Now he has climbed back up to 23.

Having missed a lot of tournaments last year, including the entire clay season, he doesn’t have too many points to defend in the first half of the year. Even as he tries to make up lost ground, Paes is focused on the bigger events. “It’s all about block training," he says. “Six weeks before the event where I want to peak, my training starts. Whether it is the cardio, the bike work, the work I do in the gym in terms of getting the upper body strong: the shoulder, forearm, wrist. The more specific the training, the more potent the result. I am playing lesser events. But I am more focused on the events I play, and doing better."

Smart training, smart scheduling—that’s the reason that in his 25th year on the tour, he continues to win majors. That’s the reason he has won at least one big doubles title every year since 1997.

If not him, then who?

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