India’s veteran tennis player Leander Paes was honored on Sunday on the last day of the Bengaluru Open. Paes, who played his last ATP Tour match on home court, was honored by former Olympians and sportspersons at KSLTA Stadium in Bengaluru.
On Sunday, just before the singles finals, the veteran Indian tennis star, who holds the record of maximum doubles win in Davis Cup, was given a rousing farewell with stars from various sports including former hockey players Jude Felix, VR Raghunath, Arjun Halappa, former track, and field athlete Ashwini Nachappa and Davis Cupper Prahlad Srinath joining thousands of people who had gathered to bid farewell to their favourite tennis star.
Also present on the occasion were former swimmers Reshma and Nisha Millet, former heptathlete Pramila Aiyappa and former long jumper Reeth Abraham.
An emotional Paes asked the audience to give a standing ovation to the former athletes as he said, “All of you taught me how the passion for sport, dedication and hard work helps us to achieve success.”
Playing his last match of the ATP Tour on home court, India veteran Leander Paes and his partner Matthew Ebden suffered a loss in the final of the Bengaluru Open on Saturday. Paes and his Australian partner were beaten by the Indian pair of fourth seed Purav Raja and Ramkumar Ramanathan 6–0, 6–3.
Before the final, Paes wrote on his Twitter account that it was a pleasure to be in the final of the last tournament on home ground.
Leander Paes‘s name is the record for winning the most doubles in Davis Cup. Paes‘s 44th win was against the Pakistani duo (Muhammad Shoaib and Huffeza Abdul Rahman). In the Davis Cup last year, he broke Nicola’s record and set the record for winning the most doubles matches.
Mahesh Bhupati, who won three Grand Slam titles with Paes, had said ahead of the doubles final on Saturday that his former Grand Slam winning partner Leander Paes is still playing brilliantly which he can continue for another year.
“He reached the final of the Bengaluru ATP. If he continues to play well for a few more months, then he can consider playing another year. I think the way he is playing, he should play as long as he can.” said Bhupati.
