How ‘we need you Lee’ plea got Leander Paes right back on court

Paes’ return to the court, that too with Bopanna, holds a significance in the run-up to the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Leander Paes(left) and Rohan Bopanna exults after their Devis cup victory against Serbia (Source: AP)

It was at Wimbledon that Rohan Bopanna made an appeal to Leander Paes to return to Davis Cup. The World Group play-off scheduled for Bangalore was then over two months away — but the 34-year-old hoped Paes would agree to jam with him while taking on Serbia, the second-ranked Davis Cup team in the world. “He simply said ‘Lee, we need you,’” recalls Paes. Soon team captain Anand Amritraj had joined the bandwagon that attempted to convince the 41-year-old to play the crucial tie.

The duo played in one of the most sensational comebacks against Serbian pair of Zimonjic-Bozoljac and helped India finish with a 3-2 scoreline.

While his teammates upped the pressure to convince him to return, the 2013 US Open men’s doubles champion had been looking at ways to regain his match sharpness. Four months away from the circuit had taken its toll as Paes claims he’d rapidly lost the physical fitness and match awareness needed to compete at a high level. And so it happened that the Indian pair, which had not played together since 2012, would be seen practicing on a rain drenched court in Bangalore. “The surface was submerged in about two inches of water. So we didn’t run, but we practiced our drills while it rained. Just some shots our opponents would throw at us. Reflex volleys, 30 odd serves and returns. Eventually it all worked out,” he recalls.

The hiatus on court came as a result of an ongoing custody battle for daughter Aiyana. Court hearings would take precedence over his sporting commitments. The entire process, including the anxiety about the outcome remained with him even during the Davis Cup. Subsequently, the win against Serbian pair Nenad Zemonjic and Ilija Bozoljac — the team that beat the illustrious Bryan brothers at the tournament last season —a was an important win for him on a personal front. It was also a win he rates his best ever in the doubles category, with only the singles win against Goran Ivanisivic in 1995 being the one he holds higher.

Paes’ return to the court, that too with Bopanna as his partner, holds a significance in the run-up to the 2016 Rio Olympics. The former has mentioned at a press conference that he is open to the idea of pairing up with the latter for the next Olympics.

“We both have shots in our individual repertoire which makes us a formidable team. We just haven’t played enough matches together,” says Paes.

In the interim, with Paes doubles ranking at 35 and Bopanna at 27, the pair will have to look for higher ranked partners in order to compete at Grand Slams and get their rankings up.