Paes can’t quite get even with God — By Ricky Dimon

Written by: Staff on 13th March 2014

Paes can't quite get even with God -- By Ricky Dimon

epa04122491 Kevin Anderson of South Africa prepares to serve against Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland at the BNP Paribas Open tennis in Indian Wells, California, USA, 12 March 2014. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO |

When you have an even record with “God” on the other side of the net, you know you’re doing something right.

That’s whom Leander Paes was going up against on Thursday night at the BNP Paribas Open–at least according to Rick Leach, a former No. 1 doubles player in the world who now works with Paes on a part-time basis. When asked whom Paes and Radek Stepanek would play after they beat Jonathan Erlich and Richard Gasquet in the second round, Leach quipped, “God and Wawrinka.”

That referred, of course, to the Swiss duo of Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka.

It proved to be a duo that was too much for Paes and Stepanek. The Indian-Czech paring, seeded fourth in Indian Wells, battled back from an early deficit but eventually succumbed 6-3, 6-7(6), 10-4 in a match tiebreak as Federer and Wawrinka advanced to the semifinals.

For Paes, it was a chance to make his doubles head-to-head record against Federer a level 5-5. Federer won their first four meetings (between 2000 and 2004, the last one at the 2004 Indian Wells event), Paes took four straight (from July of 2004 through July of 2008), then Federer and Wawrinka ousted Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

So the history stood at 5-4 in Federer’s favor heading into Thursday’s showdown. A real opportunity presented itself to Paes and Stepanek with Federer and Wawrinka having already played singles matches earlier in the day (Wawrinka even struggled physically in a fourth-round loss to Kevin Anderson). Nonetheless, the 2008 gold medalists and 2011 Indian Wells runner-ups bounced back and rose to the occasion).

A 5-5 record against “God” would have been especially impressive, but five wins in 12 tries against Roger Federer isn’t too shabby.

Topics: 10sballs, BNP Paribas Open, God, Indian Wells, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Radek Stepanek, Rick Leach, Ricky Dimon, Roger Federer, Sports, Stanislas Wawrinka, Tennis, Tennis News

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10sBalls_com says:

March 13, 2014 at 10:20 am

Paes can’t quite get even with God — By Ricky Dimon – http://t.co/5hy4f6IMpg @Leander @rogerfederer #Tennis #News
RD_Tennistalk says:

March 13, 2014 at 7:51 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: Paes can’t quite get even with God — By Ricky Dimon – http://t.co/5hy4f6IMpg @Leander @rogerfederer #Tennis #News