Leander Paes has played 97 Grand Slam in his entire career and bit worried about he would not play his 100th grand slam because of the pandemic situation having brought all major sports events into a halt.
“I have played 97 Grand Slams so far and if I play three more, it will be 100 so that moves me. Also getting to the eighth Olympics to make sure India is forever on the top as the most number of Olympics played by a tennis player. That is the benchmark I would like to push. But even if I don’t get there, still I’m happy with what I’ve done and the career I have,” said the winner of 18 majors,” Paes told table tennis player Mudit Dani on his chat show Sportlight.
Paes is 46 years old and has won 18 Grand Slam titles of which eight are doubles and ten are mixed doubles titles. After becoming a pro in 1991, Paes only won a bronze medal in his second Olympics singles competition at the 1996 Atlanta Games. Between 1992 and 2016, he competed in every Olympics, making him the only Indian to compete in seven Olympic Games. And provided he books his ticket to Tokyo next year, Pace is unlikely to be copied for a longtime.
“Olympics is still far away. As of now, I find it difficult to believe that sports will start by July or August. Would it start October or November, who knows? But my team and I are very well prepared that when the lockdown opens up, we will revaluate then and look at ‘One Last Roar’ as season whether we should look at 2021 or not,” he told to Mudit.
