Leander Paes became the oldest tennis player to win a Grand Slam in the Open era at the age of 40 when he and Radek Stepanek teamed up to win the US Open. They stopped the Bryans pursuit of a Grand Slam and then destroyed Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares in the final.
India’s top player is planning on playing the Rio Olympics in 2016 and loves the sport as much or more than when he first started playing it as a kid.
“My dad is an Olympian,” Paes said. “Won a medal in ’72 in field hockey. First thing he told us was, ‘you guys keep getting better. My father is the sort of guy that doesn’t rest on his laurels. He keeps pushing to try to get better. Every one inch, every one percent helps. Me learning from Radek’s returns and his footwork on the baseline; him learning from my hands at the net or the way we read the game; the way our coaches are helping us get better; on the practice court, for me to make sure he does his singles stuff; to go out there and help him with certain drills that he likes to do, after that we go out and do specific doubles stuff to set a strategy for the team we play against.”
A bit of sports philosopher, Paes appreciates how hard Stepanek worked to return to a top form after undergoing neck surgery earlier this year. He said that the 34 year old inspires him every day, on court and off.
“What I like about him is he’s humble,” Paes said. “He, like any human being, goes through the ups and downs of life, but he always does it professionally. He goes out there to do things that matter to him. His thinking, his thought process, he is very rational. He chooses good people around him. If someone comes in to cause a little trouble, he will see through them. It’s just a matter of a little time. He’s looking to get better every day. And that’s the cardinal rule my father taught me when I was a kid, is to look to get better every day. We both come from humble background and come from countries where tennis wasn’t necessarily the number one sport. We both fought against adversity to get to where we are. So age is just a number for us.”
Stepanek has also become a good friend to Paes off court. On the morning his 40th birthday in Eastbourne, none of his team was around because they had other responsibilities to take care of. It was cold and wet and Paes was feeling sad because normally his daughter is with him on his birthday, but she couldn’t make it.
“But Radek woke me up, and we went for a run on the beach, like we did every morning,” “Paes recalled. “ At 40, at 30, at 100, no matter what your age is, when you have that team right there, you have that comrade there, you have that brother there, you go and do your simple daily chores, simple daily things. And when you know you have someone in your corner like him and we share that, that gives me my magic on the court. That gives me the magic that no matter what happened to my backhand or what happens to my serve, I will put my heart and body on the line for him any time.”
Topics: 10sballs, Grand Slam, Leander Paes, Radek Stepanek, Sports, Tennis, US Open