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Who is the Greatest Asian tennis Player? SHARMISTHA CHAUDHURI
It’s well known that Paes loves to play for the history books. Still fit as a fiddle, updating himself with newer training techniques to stay injury free and healthy, Paes has no intentions of stopping. Without doubt, he is the greatest Asian tennis player in doubles. There is no one who comes even close. Li Na was the first Asian to win a Grand Slam singles title
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t’s well known the two don’t like playing together. In fact, even before the tie began, Bopanna had requested he ‘sit out’ this one. Paes, on the other hand, was making a comeback to the Davis Cup squad. Dropped by former partner and current non-playing captain Mahesh Bhupathi last year, Paes was eager to clinch another record—the most number of Davis Cup doubles wins. He had been stuck on the number 42, tied with Italy’s Nicola Pietrangeli, albeit a while. The Indians lost the first set 5-7 on the hardcourt of the Tianjin Tennis Centre to their Chinese counterparts Mao-Xin Gong and Ze Zhang. Things weren’t looking that great but out of sheer determination they equalised 36
scores winning the second set in a closely fought tiebreak—7-6(5). It was anybody’s game. After almost two and a half hours of play, the tide turned for India. With the decider again taken to a tiebreaker, Paes and Bopanna upped their game, refusing to give any leeway to the opponents as they wrapped up the set 7-6(3) to provide the visitors a chance to win the Asia/Oceania Group I second round tie. And the team didn’t let the duo’s hard fought battle go to waste. Treating it as the turning point, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Prajnesh Gunneswaran, respectively, quickly wrapped the day’s proceedings to give India a 3-2 victory, keeping the country’s win record against China intact in the tournament.
Advantage Tennis Grand Slam Yearbook 2019
Just let that sink in for a moment. It was Paes’ 43rd Davis Cup victory. In a career spanning over three decades, the victory also earned the 44-year-old his 750th doubles match win! He’s only the sixth player in ATP World Tour history to achieve it. America’s Mark Bryan leads the list with 1073 wins. It’s well known that Paes loves to play for the history books. Still fit as a fiddle, updating himself with newer training techniques to stay injury free and healthy, Paes has no intentions of stopping. Adding more records to his already overachieving resume, which include rising to No. 1 on the ranking charts; 54 doubles crowns, eight of which are Grand Slams in men’s doubles and 10 in mixed; and
