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Leander Adrian Paes (born 17 June 1973) is an Indian professional tennis player who currently features in the doubles events in the ATP tour and the Davis Cup tournament. Having won 6 Doubles and 6 Mixed Doubles Tennis Grand Slam titles and finishing runners up in numerous other Grand Slam finals, he is considered to be one of the greatest and most respected contemporary doubles and mixed doubles players in the world. He is among the most successful professional Indian tennis players and is also the former captain of the Indian Davis Cup team. He is the recipient of India's highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in 1996 � 1997, the Arjuna Award in 1990, and the Padma Shri award in 2001 for his outstanding contribution to tennis in India. Apart from his twelve Grand Slam victories at doubles and mixed doubles events, he is famous for his several memorable Davis Cup performances playing for India and also for winning a bronze medal for India in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. He also achieved the rare Men's Doubles/Mixed Doubles double during the 1999 Wimbledon. His consecutive Olympic appearances from 1992 to 2008 make him the third Indian, after shooters Karni Singh and Randhir Singh, to compete at five Olympic Games. After winning the Mixed Doubles in Wimbledon 2010, Leander Paes became only the second man (after Rod Laver) to win Wimbledon titles in three different decades. In 2010 he joined the Board of Directors of Olympic Gold Quest, a foundation co-founded by Geet Sethi and Prakash Padukone to support talented athletes from India in winning Olympic medals. |