The Rediff Interview / Leander Paes

'We have to find a good second singles player for Davis Cup'

On Monday, Indian tennis ace Leander Paes's father, Dr Vece, broke the news about his son and Mahesh Bhupathi deciding to part ways. The news came as a surprise to many, because the pair had set many goals for the year, which included winning at least two Grand Slam events.

Jagan Jagannathan had interviewed Leander Paes just before the start of the Siebel Open, at the Compaq Center in San Jose, California. During the course of their conversation, Paes had said that he and Bhupathi were looking to retain the French Open title as well as trying to win the Wimbledon or US Open crown. It was the the 27-year-old Kolkatan's last interview with rediff.com before the split. Excerpts:

How much research do you do on your opponents prior to each match?

I actually do a lot of research. That is one of the aspects of the game that I like. I am a student of the game, where I love to watch players practice and play their matches, and learn new tricks from them.

Between matches, how do you relax and recover?

Generally, when I am traveling on the tour, it's a lot of hard work, one practices a few hours during the day, and one goes to the gym as well and works out. As far as relaxing goes, I generally carry my computer with me and I surf the net a lot, and get on e-mail and chat with my friends, something I was doing just before this interview. At the same time, I love to stay in touch with my family and friends. Even though one stays away from India so much, I love to keep a close track of what is happening at home.

How would you contrast playing in India and abroad?

Playing in India is real easy. The fact that one travels to familiar surroundings, there is Indian food, which is a big bonus, and one has the crowd support. Generally, all the stadiums that I go to play in, in India, I have played in before. And I have grown up playing in these stadiums. For example, the DLTA stadium in New Delhi or the South Club in Calcutta or the MSLTA in Bombay. One has grown up playing at these different venues, so whenever there is a professional event or Davis Cup there, I just love going back and being on familiar ground. I find that even though there are so many expectations from us when we play at home. I just use the crowd support and motivation from all the fans as wind beneath my wings.

How can India produce more top-level players like you and Mahesh?

I think that in the last 15 years since I first started, I have made a considerable difference with awareness, with tennis as a profession. One of my jobs being the No.1 player in India for years is to show that this is just a great education and such a great lifestyle. So that is something I am really proud of, where over the years, with the example that I have set, I have had many, many more kids join the game. The number of children that are playing the game to when I started has probably multiplied five times. Even though we have got that many more kids playing the game and that many more tennis courts in the different cities and areas in India, I think professional training, professional academies as well as players who have retired, like, say, Ramesh Krishnan, or, for example, Zeeshan Ali, have to be brought back into the system to give to the young kids.

Take Ramesh Krishnan as an example. I think that because he was No. 23 in the world in singles, he is so rich in information and so rich in experience. I think that the associations in India should use and maximize his experience to impart that to the kids.

How important is fitness and strength training in today's tennis relative to a decade or two earlier?

Physical training in modern tennis is probably about 60 per cent of the game I think, if not more. You find that ever since tennis moved away from lawn tennis to the synthetic surfaces, it became that much more a physical game. And that is where we Indians generally tend to lose out. I have been very lucky, being born in a family that I was born in with the genes that I was born with. At the same time, I spend many, many hours a day through my whole life preparing for the physical demands that tennis has. My body, basically traveling through the years, goes through so much of change in environment, so much of change in climate, as well as jetlag with travel, as well as the amount of hours that you have to spend on the practice court and the match court. Rehab or yoga or good diet or good sleep patterns or proper training to prevent injuries is really important to me. Especially every year that I grow older, that much more importance do I place on physical training.

Do you have a personal trainer who you work with on an ongoing basis?

Yes, I do. I have two personal trainers. One is Sanjay Singh, who is an Indian gentleman from New Delhi. He specializes in yoga, in massage, and we have been working together for the last ten years. Over the last ten years, he has learnt a lot more about my body and my training methods that I use to enhance my physical training. Hence, he motivates me to go that extra step further. At the same time, he is a great companion, so he is with me here this week in San Jose. Apart from Sanjay, I have another physical trainer - David Herman, who lives in Orlando, Florida, who I have been also been working with for eleven years now. And that is the reason I am based out of Florida, where Sanjay, Dave and myself work very closely in terms of my training regime.

India's next Davis Cup encounter is against the Kiwis in New Zealand, I believe. How do you rate our chances?

It is a true test of the depth in our team. This last tie against Lebanon was really a good outing for us -- we won that tie 5-love. But this next tie against New Zealand is going to be much, much more difficult, because New Zealand have got a lot of depth in their team with Alistair Hunt, who is their No.2 player. And Alistair and myself actually traveled together on our first tour of Europe back in 1989. He was a young 15-year or 16-year-old at the time and we played doubles together at the French Open. They have got a lot of depth in their team and that is something that we have been struggling with in our Davis Cup team. We have to find a really, really good second singles player. And that is something where having Harsh Mankad on the horizon gives us a ray of hope. He works very hard, he is a good boy, he is talented and he puts his best forward whenever he comes out to play for the country. So we are hoping that Harsh will be in good nick as well as in full fitness when we arrive in New Zealand for the tie.

In terms of this year's tour, what are your goals in singles and doubles?

Singles becomes a little difficult to balance with my doubles and Davis Cup responsibilities. And one doesn't get that much chance to travel the pro circuit and play singles; hence my ranking has dropped that much. As far as doubles goes, one would love to win a few more Grand Slams this year. We had an ordinary outing at the Australian Open this year, so we want to further better that and retain our French Open title as well as try and add to that either the Wimbledon or the US Open. Basically, try to win another couple of Grand Slams. As well as in Davis Cup, try to get India back into the World Group, where I definitely have my work cut out for me. It is tough to play all three matches over the weekend, especially best-of-five in all three of them.

Other than tennis, what other sports do you follow?

I follow every single sport. Growing up as a kid, I played everything. I would say the NBA is my favorite sport to follow and that coupled with soccer.

Which team do you follow?

I would make it more specific -- Michael Jordan. It is good he came out of retirement. Yeah, he is just an epitome of an athlete to me.

Looking at your longer-term goals, looking beyond being a tennis professional, do you plan to stay in tennis or plan to do other things?

Well, I have a tennis academy back in Calcutta for the last seven-and-a-half years. In the name of tennis, one is trying to develop athletes. That is what I believe we need in India. We need good athletes. I have got about 365 kids at the moment there. We have been developing athletes for the last seven-and-a-half yars, out of which two of the top juniors in India, Sunil Kumar and Amanjoth Singh are both from my academy. Hopefully, in a few years, they will be ready to take over from me in Davis Cup.

Talking about youngsters, what advice would you give to a youngster aspiring to be a tennis professional?

Learning from my own life's experience, 'never be scared to dream'. It is amazing; with a little bit of hard work and belief what can be achieved.

Also read: Paes and Bhupathi part ways again

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