Those who aren’t familiar with doubles tennis wouldn’t know much about Leander Paes. But those who are aware of him would know of his illustrious doubles career. He is one of the few Indians who is known on the world stage and has played with many legends. As he received a great honor, he talked about how his partnership with Martina Navratilova helped him prolong his career and improve his health.

For Indian tennis fans, Paes is one of the few players who kept the hope of tennis alive. When he retired, he was applauded by the country as he stepped into a new role. Now, he serves as a coach, where he uses the advice bestowed upon him by Navratilova. 

How Martina Navratilova helped Indian Hall of Famer prolong his career

Leander Paes played tennis till 2019 when he was 46 years old. He ended his career as a doubles tennis legend and a player who would be remembered by India for a long time to come. He has played with the legends of the sport, like Martina Hingis and Martina Navratilova, many times and has learned a great deal from them. As he becomes the first Indian player to enter the Tennis Hall of Fame, he shares what he learned from them.

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“Martina Navratilova’s knowledge about diet and sleep and recovery helped me tremendously to prolong my career. She was very specific about her practice times—she would not practice for 2/3/4 hours because she already had the muscle memory. She would come in and practice for 40 minutes—and those would be really intense 40 minutes—and move on,” he told Forbes India.

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Paes has had a distinguished career in doubles and has many titles to show for it. He learned a great deal from the Czech-American tennis great and the two became close friends over time. He also found his way into the International Tennis Hall of Fame as he learned from an experienced player. 

A look at Leander Paes’ career

Paes started his professional tennis career in 1991 after he won the junior US Open and Wimbledon. His initial main focus was singles tennis, but he found great success in doubles. He won his first doubles title in 1992, which was the New Haven challenger. His efforts would increase from then on, and he started going ballistic when playing doubles.

He won his first slam in the 1999 French Open with partner Mahesh Bhupati and would then wreak havoc in the doubles world. He has been ranked 1 and won 8 men’s doubles and 10 mixed doubles titles, which enabled him to enter the Hall of Fame. Now that he has risen to such an accomplishment, he can relax and look back on his illustrious career. 

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