When India's Leander Paes won his 15th grandslam title in the Australian Open mixed-doubles final on sunday with his partner Swiss Martina Hingis. It wasn’t just a game of tennis. It was a lesson in fortitude, determination and of confronting life’s larger goals with humility.
I don't follow tennis actively but this display of such human desire to push the boundaries has to be witnessed by everyone. Tennis is the game of fitness.
It takes limb, nerve and mind to serve the ball with the swiftness every single time. How does one hold that together for 41 years of his life ?
Leander Paes after winning his bronze at Atlanta Olympics, the beginning of Indian tennis story.
Throughout his career he showed what we lesser men never had: to struggle to excel, to lunge that extra bit, to dig in, to believe that barriers are crossable, to overcome situations in which we all surrender and fade away.
At the age when many sports stars are doing school runs(Not slying on Mahesh Bhupati), Paes has raised a Slam trophy. Perhaps we haven’t yet realised the grandeur of his tennis life. One day we will. Maybe we are waiting for him to serve for the last time.
Every single word here also holds true for his partner Martina Hingis who won a comeback grandslam after 2 retirements.