by Kruti Mehta on September 18, 2013

Leander Paes is a great tennis player with a never-say-die-attitude showed his potential again at the age of forty by winning the Men’s Double title in US Open 2013. This is his 3rd US Open title in Men’s Double category and his 14th overall Grand Slam title. This is the first time that a man has won the title at the age of forty. This was Leander Paes’s 31st Grand Slam final overall. Leander Paes has a winning percentage of less than 50%, but still he is considered as the best Indian Tennis Player ever because of his commitment and dedication towards the game. Leander Paes showed his dedication towards the game, when he managed to overcome his disease i.e., Neurocysticerosis (a parasitic disease of neural system) in 2003 due to which he missed the US Open that year and managed to come back in Australian open in 2014. Leander Paes is a role model for upcoming players like Rohan Bopanna, Vishnu Vardhan, Yuki Bhambri and Somdev Devvarman who are in the initial stages of their careers.

In the final match, Paes was accompanied by Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic as his partner. This is Radek Stepanek’s first Grand slam title. The duo was playing against the world’s No. 2 i.e., Alexander Peya of Australia and Bruno Soares of Brazil who were playing their first grand slam finals. The first two US Open Men’s Double titles for Peas are also with the Czech players i.e., with Martin Damn in 2006 and Lukas Dlouhy in 2009. Experience helped Paes and Radek to win the title as they were mentally strong than their competitors. Peya and Soares showed their nervousness in the start of the game by giving unforced errors to winners in the opening set of the game. After lagging with a score of 0-4 in the first half, the Australian – Brazil pair managed to escape a loss of 0-5, but in the end it was Indian – Czech pair who won the first set with a score of 6-1.

The second set also started in the favour of winning pair as they managed to do some early damage to bring the score to 3-1. In this half, Peya and Soares managed to comeback for a while but in the end they end up losing the set with a score of 6-3. After winning the title, Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek got the winning prize of 460,000 dollars. This win has also helped the duo to improve in their rankings. In the doubles ranking, the Indian – Czech pair is at No. 4.

In the near future, he will be seen playing in London for which he has already qualified. According to him, “His next target is to prepare himself for 2016 Olympics that is going to be in Rio because he sees no reason to stop playing when he can still manage to reach grand slam finals no matter how aged he is.”