Leander Paes thread...

[jayakris]

Oh yeah, I was so crushed when LP lost to Agassi in 1996. Frankly, Agassi had no idea what hit him. Then at 0-4 down in the second set, Agassi showed his nasty side. He went and complained to the umpire that LP grunts too much or something like that. Maybe the complaint was about excessive celebrations and fist-pumping or something that irked Agassi. LP was all over the place till then, bringing out all his shots. But LP did get affected by the complaint to the umpire, and was just not the same after that. More precisely, it was simple Agassi needing a moment to think what to do, and he started hitting the ball deeper and deeper and LP refused to spar with him. But that match really upset me.

[PKBasu]

The top players are at the top because they know how to deploy the whole range of sporting and unsporting tricks. Leander was up 6-3, 4-0 in that R2 match at the USO in 1996 (a few weeks after their SF at the Olympics). Then Agassi’s antics changed the match, and Agassi won 18 of the next 19 games. (Shades of Andy Murray’s toilet break at matchpoint to Harsh Mankad at the Buffalo Challenger). And of course in the 1981 USO quarterfinal against Ramesh Krishnan, McEnroe’s outburst “he serves at 10mph and I STILL can’t return it” changed the direction of the match. At that stage Ramesh was up 76(12-10), 4-1. But Ramesh didn’t go down abjectly thereafter: the final score was 76(10) 67(4) 46 26. Ramesh was a solid player, but he never beat McEnroe despite always running him close. Leander just didn’t have much experience playing the big guys in singles.

[prasen9]

I think that is partially true. But, the other part is that Leander's game was not as solid as the all-time-great's. He could reach all-time-great heights in single matches but often it would be for part of the match. That level of crazy tennis was perhaps not sustainable for five sets against an all-time-great. Agassi also made tactical changes and became more solid in his own game and adjusted his game. I was at work that day and snuck out to our gym to watch the game. (Don't report me.) Maybe because it was a mental trick that helped Lee to lift his game, the mental messing-up that Agassi did took that icing off and Lee could not not think of the issue. Once part of his mental focus was gone, he lost.

[knarayen]

I think that is partially true. But, the other part is that Leander's game was not as solid as the all-time-great's. He could reach all-time-great heights in single matches but often it would be for part of the match. That level of crazy tennis was perhaps not sustainable for five sets against an all-time-great. Agassi also made tactical changes and became more solid in his own game and adjusted his game. I was at work that day and snuck out to our gym to watch the game. (Don't report me.) Maybe because it was a mental trick that helped Lee to lift his game, the mental messing-up that Agassi did took that icing off and Lee could not not think of the issue. Once part of his mental focus was gone, he lost.

I agree. I remember watching that match and was amazed at how well Lee was playing. Then the usual stalling trick designed to get Lee to lose focus - something that McEnroe, connors, Jeff Tarango were so good at. Just imagine, if Lee could get snuckered by this then what a dastardly act it must have been.

[S_K_S]

Surprised no one posted this...

[S_K_S]

[prasen9]

An I was the stupid guy who went to the Atlanta Games but got tickets for hockey. And, when he got into the semis, etc. I could not get the tickets

[Sin Hombre]

I went to London 2012 (India's best ever Olympics) but saw us getting our usual heartbreaking losses in hockey and saw two finalists in athletics.

Would like to go to Tokyo if things are calm by then.

[PKBasu]

There was no Mixed Doubles at the US Open. If the French Open draw is similarly small, Leander's retirement seems to have been brought forward, although he seems to be determined to go to Tokyo 2021.

[prasen9]

Did the great man finally retire? Or is this just a pause for the end of the year? And he will be back next year playing challengers and working his way up?

[PKBasu]

He had announced that 2020 would be his last year on the tour, and he wanted to do a final tour of the circuit to say goodbye. But Covid has torpedoed the plans for that final tour. He hasn't amended the announcement that 2020 would be his final year on the tour, so maybe he has quietly retired. But quietly retiring isn't the Leander way, so there may yet be a nice surprise.

[prasen9]

He will come roaring back in 2021 then

[jaydeep]

Leander plans the French Open comeback.

Paes plans French Open comeback with an eye on Olympics

[PKBasu]

Nice story, and particularly the reference to CC&FC (Calcutta Cricket & Football Club), where hockey greats like Vece Paes, Keshuv Dutt, Leslie Claudius have been Presidents -- and Gurbux Singh was a prominent member. My dad was a member (I never applied before leaving for the US), but as a teenager I played a lot of tennis and a bit of cricket there. As a youngster, I remember watching Leander playing occasionally on the grass courts (which were reserved for him when he wanted to play, because he was already India number 1 among under-14s, and the markers were already saying he would win Wimbledon some day).

[S_K_S]