Leander Paes will have a lot on his mind on the long journey from Leon in Mexico to Bengaluru. He will land in an unusual setting, relegated to a reserve in a team made up of mostly, well, hardly-knowns. For the better part of two decades, Paes has been the fulcrum of the Indian Davis Cup team - pulling off unreal heists, swaying stadiums to his passion, impelling the country's sports fans to stay invested. In Bengaluru, though, he will touch down a lonely man, uncertain if there will ever be another go on offer.
In Leon, Paes won a tournament which is part of the Challenger tour, the second level of competition on the tennis circuit. Players operating on the Challenger tour seek to earn enough points so they can qualify to play on the top tier of the circuit, the ATP tour. Essentially, it is a playing field for those on the cusp, aspirants to a professional career in the game. It isn't everyday that an almost 44-year-old multiple Grand Slam champion is found battling on these obscure courts.
Thank you to ALL of you who have believed in me through tough times ���� I serve (literally) for You �������� pic.twitter.com/ZEcyITRoBZ
- Leander Paes (@Leander) 2 April 2017
However, this is the life he's chosen, the battle he is willing to commit to. It has been more than two years, since January 2015 in Auckland, that Paes won a men's doubles title on the ATP tour. His individual doubles ranking has slumped to 57. He's struggled to find a settled partner through this period. He once lorded over this sport. Now, he is barely keeping his head above water.
Yet, in the land he inhabits, Leander Paes' default setting is upbeat. He scoffs at evidence. He laughs off stats. In his alternate universe, this is water off the proverbial duck's back. Just go check his Twitter feed.
Böi in da hoodie... paulhanleyy!!#lifeontour #nosleep #shuttingtheworldout #Coach #marathonflightcomingup �������� pic.twitter.com/BUvSJ3SFC3
- Leander Paes (@Leander) 2 April 2017
Except, not everyone shares the same enthusiasm and belief in his once-dazzling powers. Over the next few days in Bengaluru, Paes has a task at hand. He will seek to impress new Davis Cup captain Mahesh Bhupathi to elevate him from reserve to first-team player. Basically, Paes will submit himself to a trial. He will urge Bhupathi to consider current form (the title he's just won in Leon) and ignore a 5-7 win-loss record on the ATP tour so far this year. While Paes undoubtedly retains a zest for the game, he is being regularly waylaid by sharper, younger opponents.
"Leander Paes has been on the Davis Cup team masquerading as Leander Paes for the last couple of years."
In the first round at the Australian Open for instance, he and partner Andre Sa took the first set against Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi, but conceded the contest by floundering at critical junctures. The second set tiebreaker was lost meekly after taking an early lead and Paes had his serve, perhaps the weakest weapon in his armoury, broken towards the finishing line of the third set. His famed volleying skills, once described by Martina Navratilova as the fastest hands in tennis, remain undiminished. But with players striking the ball with greater power now, Paes has struggled to consistently counter that with his more measured, touch-based approach. He remains devoted to a strenuous fitness regimen, but in a young man's sport, Paes is being overpowered.
Bhupathi will factor all this and more into his calculations before even considering punting on Paes. He is on record saying he is open to a rethink but will do so only if compelling evidence presents itself on the training court before the draw is announced on Thursday. Paes will audition to be given the nod ahead of the other reserve named in the original squad - local boy Rohan Bopanna, ranked 34 spots above him on the computer, a winner and finalist on the ATP tour this year and the holder of a 9-6 win-loss record.
Paes' Davis Cup love story is well documented but in recent years, he's endured a sequence of heartbreaks. The last time Paes pulled a Paes in Davis Cup play was ironically in Bengaluru in September 2014 against Serbia in a World Group play-off tie. Trailing by two sets and down a break in the third against Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozolac, Paes and Bopanna fashioned a remarkable counterpunch. They won it 8-6 in the fifth and as a thunderous stadium applauded as Paes deliriously embraced his partner, it seemed a sort of forever. He could do this till he wanted it. It was a luminous, thrilling moment.
Since then, Paes hasn't won a Davis Cup doubles match of consequence. Yes, he and Bopanna combined to destroy a Korean pair in Chandigarh in 2016, but on grass against a couple of guys ranked beyond 1000, it was a facile result. Against the Czech pair of Adam Pavlasek and Radek Stepanek in Delhi in 2015, Paes and Bopanna were decimated in three sets, a match recently deposed captain Anand Amritraj described as the "worst in his tenure."
Last year, with Saketh Myneni for company against Spain, Paes briefly sparkled against Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez, before succumbing in four sets. And in Pune last month, with Vishnu Vardhan roped in at the last minute as partner to replace the injured Myneni, Paes suffered another four-set defeat against Artem Sitak and Michael Venus of New Zealand. It was the only match India conceded in an otherwise straightforward win in the tie.
In essence, Leander Paes has been on the Davis Cup team masquerading as Leander Paes for the last couple of years. And all this time, there's been the subtext of the world record for most doubles wins in Davis Cup history. Paes is currently locked at 42 with Italian legend Nico Pietrangeli and is sincere in his belief that achieving the landmark will be his "gift to the nation." Bhupathi, given to less grandiose wordplay, says no one would be happier if Paes were to get there considering he is "half of that record."
However, sentiment, as Australia's national selector John Inverarity said when ending Ricky Ponting's ODI career in 2012, has no place in elite sport. On his debut as captain, Bhupathi is unlikely to be swayed by it. Paes is given to emotional outpouring but comprehends, as well as anyone, the nature of this beast. After his first-round exit at the Australian Open, Paes argued his selection or not had always been someone else's domain, all he could assure was "100% of Leander Paes' effort" to the team cause.
So here we are. Another pit stop has arrived in this storied career. History will judge Leander Paes generously. This week though, he is the outsider in a setup that his presence once defined, scrambling against a rampaging tide to be granted another chance to unleash his sparkle. Quite simply, his fate is no longer in his own hands.