Leander Paes

He made a total of 34 Grand Slam finals across men's and mixed doubles in his career which is the joint 2nd highest of all-time among men.

He is a former Davis Cup team captain, where in addition his Davis Cup all-time doubles win record with 45 victories, he also has the 4th highest number of overall wins in Davis Cup history with 93 total victories across singles and doubles in a 30 year career for India with match wins in 4 different decades.

He played in World Team Tennis for the Washington Kastles.

Vece was a midfield squad member in the bronze medal-winning Indian field hockey team at the 1972 Munich Olympics although he did not personally receive a medal as he did not take to the field in any of India's matches.

Leander Adrian Paes (born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player.

He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players of all-time and holds the record for the most doubles wins in the Davis Cup.

Paes won eight men's doubles and ten mixed doubles Grand Slam titles.

Paes was born in Calcutta, India, on 17 June 1973 to Vece Paes, a Goan, and, Jennifer Paes, from Calcutta.

He studied at La Martiniere Calcutta, Madras Christian College Higher Secondary School and at St. Xavier's College.

His parents were both athletes.

His mother captained the Indian basketball team in the 1980 Asian basketball championship.

Paes is a direct descendant of Bengali poet Michael Madhusudan Dutta through his mother.

Paes enrolled with the Britannia Amritraj Tennis Academy in Madras (Chennai) in 1985, where he was coached by Dave O'Meara.

Paes earned international fame when he won the 1990 Wimbledon Junior title and reached No. 1 in the junior world rankings at age 17.

Paes first won titles at the Junior US Open and the Junior Wimbledon.

He turned professional in 1991.

He became number 1 in the world junior rankings.

He competed in consecutive Olympics from 1992 to 2016, making him the first Indian and the only tennis player to compete in seven Olympic Games.

He is also the most decorated male tennis player in Asian Games history with 5 Golds and 3 Bronzes winning medals in every category (singles, doubles, mixed doubles and team event) and the highest Indian gold medal winning athlete across all sports in Asian Games history.

In 1992, he reached the quarter finals of the doubles event in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics with Ramesh Krishnan.

His first successful year in the ATP circuit came in 1993, when he partnered with Sébastien Lareau to reach the US Open doubles semifinal.

After a moderate season in 1994, he reached the quarter-finals of the 1995 Australian Open doubles with Kevin Ullyett.

Paes received the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award, India's highest sporting honor, in 1996–97; the Arjuna Award in 1990; the Padma Shri award in 2001; and India's third-highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan prize in January 2014, for his outstanding contributions to tennis.

He won a bronze medal for India in men's singles at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games making him the 1st Asian in Olympic history to win a tennis medal and the only Indian till date.

At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics he beat Fernando Meligeni to win the bronze medal, the first Indian to win an individual medal since KD Jadhav won bronze at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

Paes cited the match as one of his greatest performances, in part because his wrist was severely injured.

He was awarded the highest sporting honor by the government of India, the Khel Ratna in 1996.

From 1996, he partnered with fellow Indian Mahesh Bhupathi.

Their first year was not successful, especially in the Grand Slams, reaching the round of 32 only at Wimbledon.

1997 proved to be a much better year for the team, reaching the US Open semifinals.

Paes climbed the doubles ranking from no. 89 at the beginning of the year to no. 14 at year-end.

That year he made his best singles performance in a Grand Slam, losing in the third round of the 1997 US Open to Cédric Pioline after beating Carlos Costa and Arnaud Boetsch.

Paes/Bhupathi grew stronger in 1998,and reached the semifinals of three Grand Slams, the Australian Open, the French Open and the US Open.

Paes had two of his biggest singles results.

He holds a career Grand Slam in men's doubles and mixed doubles making him one of only three men in the Open era to achieve this distinction and won the rare men's/mixed double at the 1999 Wimbledon Championships.

Paes was also the 1st pair in Open era history together with Mahesh Bhupathi to reach the men's doubles finals of all 4 Grand Slams in the same calendar year(1999).

He was on the 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 championship teams and was named Male MVP for 2009 and 2011.

His mixed doubles Wimbledon title in 2015 made him the second man (after Rod Laver) to win Wimbledon titles in three different decades.

and he also repeated the feat winning a Roland Garros title in three different decades with his mixed doubles title in 2016.

Paes retired from professional tennis in 2020, following his last Davis Cup tie in Croatia, with a world record 1295 weeks spent ranked in the Top 100 in men's doubles.