Leander Paes Will Play in Dubai as part of Farewell Tour

Indian tennis icon Leander Paes, who recently announced that he would retire from professional tennis in 2020, says that Dubai will surely be part of his farewell tour. The ATP 500 tennis tournament in Dubai is scheduled to be held from February 24-29 in 2020. Paes won the doubles title in Dubai with Mahesh Bhupathi in 1998 and again with David Rikl in 2003.

Speaking to the Gulf News, Paes says, "As I said on social media on Christmas Day, I will be playing a few select tournaments in my farewell year - traveling with my team and celebrating with all my friends and fans around the globe. Dubai, where I have always enjoyed great support from the Indian diaspora, will certainly be one of my last stops. The Australian Open will be my first event of the year - where I had made my debut in 1989. In effect, I will be actually playing across five decades - the '80s, '90s, the new millennium, 2010 decade and now 2020."

His father, Dr. Vece Paes also spoke about his son's decision to retire. "The retirement decision had to come sometime. The buzz had been going around once he stepped into the 40s, but Leander maintained that he was still enjoying the sport and wanted to carry on. However, in recent times, he had not been able to adhere to the benchmark of success he had set for himself and had slipped down in the rankings (No. 70) and finally a call had to be taken. There is a danger of him feeling the vacuum once he gives up playing tennis professionally. However, he has mentally prepared himself for it for some time and plans to engage himself in a variety of roles - like playing in occasional events for a cause, acting as a motivational speaker for corporates - something he is so good at. He also plans to take up golf as an amateur and do commentary for tennis as well as football."

On the qualification for the Olympics, Paes Sr. commented,  "As things stand now, the team of Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan are ahead of Leander in terms of rankings and are likely to form the first team. It depends on the Indian government if they allow two men's doubles team to participate - as had been the case in recent Olympics. Then there is a question of Leander and his partner getting a wild card."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2sYtC9p