Tennis ace Leander Paes insists he’s training hard with an aim to play a record eighth Olympics in Tokyo
Leander Paes on the sidelines of the TPL auction. Pic/Shadab Khan
India's tennis icon Leander Paes, 47, remains optimistic about playing a record eighth Olympics at Tokyo in July this year despite having lost 11 months of his professional due to the Coronavirus-caused break.
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The winner of eight doubles and 10 mixed doubles Grand Slam titles made his Olympic debut along with Ramesh Krishnan at Barcelona, Spain in 1992 and won India’s only tennis medal, a bronze in singles, at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
“Tees saal khelne ke liye thoda pagal hona chahiye, kunki ye aasan kaam nahi hai [You have to be mad to play for 30 years because it’s no easy task]. At this age, I am still working hard for my eighth Olympics,” Paes, who will be 48 when the Tokyo Olympics begins on July 23, told mid-day on the sidelines of the announcement of the player auction for the third edition of Tennis Premier League [TPL] in Andheri. Paes is the co-owner of one of the teams, Mumbai Leon Army. The TPL will be held in December.
Paes claimed that he has a great opportunity to make it to Tokyo. “I believe that Rohan [Bopanna] and Divij [Sharan] have not qualified as a team; their individual results have not been so good. So, we need to send the best team that has a chance to win a medal. I’ve been saying that for long. So I think that’s what drives me forward,” said Paes, adding that he has lost six kilos since resuming practice at Khar Gymkhana three weeks ago.
“I’m enjoying my passion again and training hard. It’s one thing to train to be fit, but to train as a champion and to eat as a champion is very tough. I’m happy to be back on that journey again.
“I’m not doing 10 hours a day anymore, probably just six. But the quality and intensity of work is very high because it takes a lot more effort at this age to get the same results as you did when you were 25 or 35. I feel I’m on the right track. My body feels good. I just need to find my rhythm now,”
said Paes.
Speaking of the prevalent COVID-19 situation, the former India Davis Cup captain said that he has lost of lot of close friends to the virus. “It was challenging in some ways because I lost as many as 38 very close family and friends to the Coronavirus. I’m everyone’s SOS call. I don’t want to delve too much into it, but it’s not been easy. I’ve had to be very cautious because of my dad [Vece] and mom [Jennifer],” he concluded.
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