Paes Announces 2020 Will Be His Final Season

Leander Paes, the 46-year-old Indian who has amassed 767 tour-level doubles wins and 54 tour-level doubles titles during his illustrious career, announced Wednesday that 2020 will be his final season.

“I am looking forward to the 2020 tennis calendar where I will be playing a few select tournaments, travelling with my team and celebrating with all my friends and fans around the world. It is all of you who have inspired me to become me and I want to take this year to say ‘Thank you’ to you,” Paes wrote on social media. “2020 is going to be an emotional one and I look forward to seeing all of you out there roaring with me.” 

#OneLastRoar pic.twitter.com/WwALCVF5LO

— Leander Paes (@Leander) December 25, 2019

Paes won his first ATP Tour doubles title at 1997 Chennai, nearly 23 years ago, before the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Denis Shapovalov and Alex de Minaur were born. He lifted at least one tour-level trophy every year from 1997-2015, with his most recent triumph coming at 2015 Auckland. Paes, who first reached No. 1 in the ATP Doubles Rankings in 1999, won the bronze medal in singles at the 1996 Olympics and captured his lone ATP Tour singles title at 1998 Newport.

“I’m playing for a lot of passion now. I really love my life and travelling the world,” Paes told ATPTour.com in July. “When I was younger, I was playing to put bread and butter on the table. I still am, but now I’m playing because I get a lot of happiness out of playing tennis.

“Every morning, I put on [tennis clothes] and have fun… [tennis is] a beautiful sport to bring happiness to a lot of people.”

Did You Know?
Paes has won eight men’s doubles and 10 mixed doubles Grand Slam titles.