Readers' feedback on the Leander Paes column
One hundred percent to you, dear Leander Paes, we Indians are so proud of you !
I watched almost every match on Wimbledon, but yours and Martina's was indeed the best- now bringing joy, now misting the eye, and finally engulfing one in cheery gladness.
Not only did you help make history at Wimbledon that beautiful Sunday, winning the enthralling doubles with the great Martina helping her reach her incredible record, but showing time and again, during and after the match, great warmth and feeling ..
The way you combined courage, strength, and sportiness, you indeed showed what a sportsman can be- a true icon .
The highly-pampered-but-still-immature cricket team of India, are you listening ? Here is a case of one better than eleven!
Surekha Tenneti Venugopal
I think Leander Paes is an excellent tennis writer who has a clear, articulate view of what is going on in the sport. His writing should be more widely distributed!
Anastasjoy
What a great article. It's like he was in my head. Thanks for articulating what so many women's tennis fans and fans of Venus and Serena's feel when we watch these two great players.
Some elements of the media and the tour have been very hostile to them, but regardless, they achieve. What a lesson for teens and young people, and what an inspiration to those of us who live vicariously through them.
Sincerely,
K. Jill
Very refreshing to read an "inside-the-player's-mind" style of article.
I love it! Fascinating stuff.
--vasu
Los Altos Hills, California, USA
One can never understand human requirements. While I am extremely happy to see Leander and Sania win Wimbledon, feel, it would have been three times happier, if Mahesh had won their doubles....
Mukund Srinivasan
What a great article. It's like he was in my head. Thanks for articulating what so many women's tennis fans and fans of Venus and Serena's feel when we watch these two great players.
Some elements of the media and the tour have been very hostile to them, but regardless, they achieve.
What a lesson for teens and young people, and what an inspiration to those of us who live vicariously through them.
Sincerely,
K. Jill
Very refreshing to read an "inside-the-player's-mind" style of article.
I love it! Fascinating stuff.
--vasu
Los Altos Hills
California, USA
One can never understand human requirements. While I am extremely happy to see Leander and Sania win Wimbledon, feel, it would have been three times happier, if Mahesh had won their doubles....
Mukundan Srinivasan
Sir,
Leander Paes could say a million things about his triumph now.
But he should remember. He put the nation to shame by not continuing to play with Mahesh Bhupathi in the Mens' Doubles.
The seperation / differences could have been on account of money, ego, coach or any other reason.
At international level, I think one should take such pressure and do what is good for the country and what the people of the country want.
The Indian people will never ever forgive him for that.
Shankar V
Hi Leander,
What a great achievement it is!
Incredible Leander. Congrats a thousand times.
We Indians are very proud of you, really proud.
The confidence and energy in your game after losing the semifinals in mens doubles simply proves that "hard and focussed work never fails".
I hope your achievement would lift the spirits and revieve the nerves of thousands of Indian sportsmen, who toil inspite of all the weak atmosphere.
You are really a great hero. Congrats once again to you and the legendary Martina.
Jayram
Hi Leander,
First of all, congrats for winning the mixed doubles at Wimbledon, along with Martina.
"For this little kid from India it was a dream to be on centre court. For me to be out on centre court with a true legend in Martina is a dream come true."
Just wanted to let you know that this dream that came true for you, indeed was a dream come true for all of us who were born in the 70's, grew up watching the Amritrajs, Gavsakars, Kapils, Padukones and PT Ushas in the 80's and grew into the Satellite TV/ Sachin Tendulkar era of the 90's.
I remember as a kid rooting for the likes of Martina, Becker and McEnroe when we used to watch these legends on TV. Indeed, looking back, I feel we were very privileged to be around the time of the golden age of tennis.
Leander, kids like me dreamed of being on Center Court along with the Martinas and the Beckers of the world -- you actually went and did it.
Sitting in America today, I just want to say how proud I am for you to have won this mixed doubles title. You represent the hopes and aspirations of our generation and whenever I think of you, I think of that 16 year old kid with so much spunk in him when you were playing under Naresh Kumar, at the Davis Cup. We have grown with you, Leander, and like the great Amritrajs and Krishnans of Indian tennis, I hope you will continue to be a good ambassador for tennis, and for India in the years to come.
Just one more thing: when are you planning to form a tag-team with Mahesh again?
All the best for all your future endeavors,
Sriraj
This was the first time that I read this colum from our tennis great "Leander". The article on the sister's Venus & Williams is true and very realistic.
It's a geat article indeed.
Wishing the leader a great sucess in all future tournaments.
Leander:
You are a great player in your own right and you deserve as much credit for the title as Martina. I am sure it is exciting to play alongside her. But is there really a need for the extreme brown-nosing - the bowing you did here and also at the Australian open and the statement about you being Martina's vehicle! C'mon man - get a grip.
Rani
Hi Leander,
It was great to see the professionalism you exhibited in that article after a loss the Mahesh-Mirnyi pair. Wish you all the best for your mixed doubles semifinal. We are sure that you will come up trumps in the mixed doubles event.
Cheers,
Natarajan
Hello:
First of all let me thank you guys for making this a regular column (or lets say seasonally regular).
There is no doubt we all love Leader Paes more than any other tennis player (I being a tennis/cricket player would even put him ahead of most of the 'not as much deserved' cricketers). I am very disappointed to see him/Rikl lose to Mahesh/Mirnyi. I am very proud of the fact that he is playing with the legend Martina. Hopefully we get to see them win at Wimbledon (& some more).
P.S. John McEnroe's comments during the doubles final pretty much said it all -- "They won 5 Grand Slams and then they break up (!?!?)". I believe the reason for their split is due to the fact that Mahesh is not as patriotic as Leander (which is a shame)
cheers
Rama
To put it quite simple and short, I say the article is "super"
Eddie Jamal
I want to thank you for a positive article on the Williams sisters and their success at Wimbledon. There has been so much negative media hype the last couple of weekends after their poor performance at the French Open. These young women work hard and are determined to persevere as they regenerate a new fresh focus on womens tennis.
Thanks again,
Chester
Good to read a tennis article written by one who knows tennis
Alan and Dorothy Fabricant
This is the best and most objective article i've read from a fellow tennis pro about the Williams sisters.
Infact it completely reinforced my positive views of Leander. Over the years i've often wondered why the so called role models in tennis like Agassi and Sampras to mention a few never come out to defend these girls, in the face of open hostilities from the Crowd and increasingly unjustified snipes from the members of the so called free press in America and the US. I mean even had Serena been a mass murderer, nothing could have justified the way she wae treated at indian wells as a 18 year old, and the public lynching she had at the french open!...Yet amazingly the american press(most of them anyway) were trying to justify the crows reaction as simply due to the fact that serena said something negative about the french stance on Iraq!!!......Ridiculous assertion.
If that had been one of the white american players, these same media guys would have been postulating a million and one reasons why the french shouldn't have reacted that way, considering her age!! My take is that if the media are not going to be objective about the girls for one reason or the other, then it is good that true pros like leander is at least coming up with such a supportive article for the girls......
Incidentally, before the williams came on the scene, i remember the way mary pierce pummelled her way into winning the Australian open, with her huge stature and hard hitting forehands.....the media and the so called tennis 'fans' were all complimentary of her power and single mindedness...ditto when philipoussis first came on the scenne all guns blazing, in fact the british press were almost idolising his strength then....but once the person wielding the power does not look like their sister or cousin, and to make things worse actually winning.. then of course all of a sudden, 'that' can't be good for 'tennis'..and it becomes 'boring'..anyway keep up the good work..tennis need more people like you..
regards
olly kingsley
Sir:
It is necssary for Tennis to have more serve and volley players to sustain the spectator interest in the game. If all tounaments become like French open, the game is bound to lose out to other sports.
We need the likes of the SCUD, Leander, Sampras, Cash, Mcenroe, Edberg, Becker, Ivanisevic, Jibozinovic,Kraijeck, Martina, Novotna to make this great sport even greater.
Rajesh Vyas
Its nice to read the article from a prof ace of india...its like having a first hand information...plz continue..
S.Kanthassamy