Leander plays the ball

Leander Paes was at the Mohun Bagan ground on Tuesday to share his childhood passion with the Bhaichung Bhutias and the Jose Ramirez Barretos. The tennis star spent close to two hours under the guidance of coach Karim Bencharifa.

“I called Bhaichung last evening and wanted to do some fitness training with them. He invited me over after getting the clearance from Karim.

“It was like getting back to my roots as I used to come to this ground with my dad when he played (hockey) for Mohun Bagan… Cross-sport training is good for any sportsperson,” said Paes.

“It was generous of Karim to let me join their training session a few days ahead of a big tournament… He’s a good professional coach.”

Talk inevitably turned to tennis and Paes felt Roger Federer is still not past his prime.

“Roger has had a great year, just lost two major finals and people are making so much of it. Roger’s set such a high standard for himself… I’m sure he has at least a couple more Grand Slams left in him. Maybe he’ll surpass (Pete) Sampras’ record in 2009 itself.”

Federer needs one more Grand Slam title to equal Sampras’ tally of 14.

Paes is pinning high hopes on Somdev Dev Varman. “Somdev is the hardest worker among Indian players. He has a good chance of breaking into the top 100 next year.”

Paes also said that the terror strikes in Mumbai had left him devastated. “The Mumbai strikes were such a terrible act, but it has reunited the country and brought the people together.”

On his own plans, Paes said: “The past season hasn’t been good for me since I changed partners too often. I plan to play with Cara Black in mixed doubles and Lukas Dlouhy in doubles this season.”

Tennis: Paes elected Bengal Tennis VP

India’s tennis ace Leander Paes has been elected as one of the seven vice-presidents of Bengal Tennis Association (BTA).

The Kolkata ace, who now lives in Mumbai, was not present at the Annual General Meeting on Saturday but has accepted the new role, which was offered to him sometime back.

“Leander has shown keen interest for the development of tennis in this state. So he was a unanimous choice, as were all other office-bearers,” BTA secretary Hironmoy Chatterjee, who has been re-elected at their 67th AGM, said in a statement on Sunday.

BTA also has two high-profile vice-presidents in Olympian Chuni Goswami and former Davis Cup coach Akhtar Ali.

“Leander will play an important role to develop the sport in the state. He has different ideas. One is to set up a tennis centre of excellence in the city and we can work together to achieve our goals of producing world-class players,” Chatterjee added.

Asked how Paes, who travels throughout the year for his assignments, would manage the demands of the post, Chatterjee said, “We don’t expect him to be here for all the time, but he has assured me he will come if there’s an important meeting provided he’s not playing.”

Captain Sushil Mehrotra has been appointed president, a post fallen vacant after Manik Goswami’s death last month.

Tennis: Somdev, Prakash handed Chennai Open wildcards

Somdev and Prakash Amritraj were handed down wild cards into the main draw of the Chennai Open to be held in January 2009. Somdev is ranked 200 and Prakash is ranked at 2004. Another entry will be Lukas Dlouhy who will be making his maiden appearance at the Chennai Open. If you havnt forgotten, Dlouhy is the doubles partner for Leander Paes.

Tennis: Paes and Dlouhy bow out of the Masters Cup

Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy lost their second successive match at the Masters Cup in Shanghai on Wednesday.

Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski, who gained a late entry to their second Tennis Masters Cup following the withdrawal of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram in the Gold Group — defeated the sixth-seeded pair 7-6(2), 6-3.

The Polish duo won 32 of 38 points on first serve and 74 per cent of service points overall. They saved five of the six break-points against them in the 84-minute victory.

The sixth seeded Indo-Czech pair had gone down 3-6, 5-7 to Jonas Bjorkman and Kevin Ullyet in their opening encounter.

Tennis: Bryan Brothers to play in Chennai

The World No 1 Doubles team, the Bryan Brothers, Mike and Bob will be playing in the 14th ATP Chennai Open. They will play in a rather tough draw as Paes, Dlouhy and Bhupathi, Knowles will also be participating in the tournament.

Bryan Brothers are one of the most attacking doubles team ever. Their record is enviable. In 2005 they entered into the finals of all the Grand Slams. Even better between 2005-2006 they reached 7 consecutive grandslam finals , though they won only 3.

Till date the brothers have won 49 titles and have won all the Opens, though in different years. They have won the Masters Title twice and were the Bronze medalists at the Beijing Olympics

Tennis – Paes and Dlouhy lose in Japan Open final

Paes and Dlouhy ran out of steam in the final of the Japan Open. They lost to the German pair of Youzhny and Mischa Zverev in straight sets 6-3, 6-4. As if by co-incidence this is the second time that the German pair has defeated Paes and Dlouhy a title. If Paes and Dlouhy had won, it would have been his 41st ATP title.

Paes and Dlouhy in Japan Open quarters

According to PTI, Top seed Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy began their campaign for back-to-back titles with a straight-set win against Spanish pair of Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Ivan Navarro in the first round of the USD 869,000 Japan Open, today.
The Indo-Czech pair, who won the Thailand Open last week, beat the unseeded Spanish duo 6-4 7-5 in one hour and 13 minutes to advance to the quarterfinals of the hard court event.

However, it was curtains for Rohan Bopanna and his American partner Eric Butorac, who put up a valiant fight against the second seeded pair of Simon Aspelin and Julian Knowle but eventually lost 7-6 (4) 6-7 (4) 4-10 to bow out of the event.

While this might sound good for Paes, it certainly is no good news for Rohan Bopanna. He needs to up the ante, to notch his rankings a bit higher.

Sania moves up in rankings while Bhupati drops

What should I call this , a hand of fate or hand of god !! Sania doesnt go beyond the second round in most of the tournaments she takes part in , is always injured to the point of breakdown. But yet she managed to move up the rankings in the recently announced rankings. She is on 91st rank in the singles and 44th in the doubles.

Bhupati on the other hand has dropped down to 12th position while Leander has managed to remain on the 8th position.

Paes and Dlouhy win the Bangkok throne

Paes has won his 40th ATP title in doubles by winning the doubles crown in the Thailand Open being held at Bangkok. Paes combined with Dlouhy and defeated his opponents in 6-4 7-6(4) over Americans Scott Lipsky and David Martin.

This title was Dlouhy’s 5th title overall. Here is what Leander Paes had to tell about his victory at Bangkok.

“It is special and I think that one of the things I like to do is see my partner win a lot more. This is the challenge for me because I know if he’s winning I’m winning too. I’m trying to step up Lukas, this is the fifth one that he’s won, so now I’m trying to step up his wins because then mine will go up automatically.”

“It’s always special stepping on the court with Lukas because not only does he complement my style of playing but he’s also teaching me things,” commented Paes. “It’s interesting that, after playing for so many years, to have a partner who’s also teaching me a few things is really beautiful.”

Way to go mate. Despite our criticism of you, you are the old war horse which has produced some worthwhile results.

Indian Tennis– What next in the Play offs

Its been a long time since India has been in the World Group of the Davis Cup. India has a chance of making it to the final round of the Davis Cup only if they play well in the play offs. But looking at the way the team is performing I am sure they wouldnt cross the first hurdle. I am not taking away credit from them for their victories. But its been ages since India last entered the World Group of Davis Cup , to be precise nearly 10 years now. The last time they entered the World Group was in 1998 and they lost to Italy 4-1. Italy went on to play in the finals of the Davis Cup, but ended as runners up to Sweden.

I can only cry at the plunge Indian Tennis has taken in the last ten years or so. While players like Lee and Hesh have done themselves a world of good in Doubles Tennis, our performance has been at the best mediocre in the Davis Cups..

Lets to cheer to our Tennis players for making it to the Playoffs.. I wish they play well and go on into the World Group and maybe the finals of Davis Cup…