Leander Paes: I know there will be fingers pointed at me in the new role

It was a homecoming of sorts for Leander Paes on Wednesday – albeit with a new responsibility thrust on him. Come November, the tennis icon who has made Kolkata his home again after being an international citizen all his life, is set to make a foray in sports administration as the new president of Bengal Tennis Association (BTA).

 The call for elite sportspersons to come to administration had been growing in India for the last five years or so – though the jury is still out on whether star athletes necessarily make competent administrators. Now 52, the country’s biggest tennis hero of the new millennium with 20 slam titles is aware of the inherent dangers, but is game for the challenge.

 ‘’I know it’s a huge responsibility and there will be people pointing fingers at me. However, I plan to work very, very hard to produce champions from the City of Joy who will play in Wimbledon one day with the tiranga in the crowd,’’ the elder statesman of Indian tennis said at a grand felicitation accorded to him by the BTA at Dakshin Kalikata Samsad (DKS).

The decked up venue for his felicitation was adjacent to the grasscourts where a teenager Lee, as he is addressed to by the city’s tennis community, had a breakthrough game against senior teammate Zeeshan Ali. Other clubs like the hallowed South Club, once a regular host of Davis Cup matches, Dalhousie Institute or CC & FC – all within barely one km radius of his Beckbagan home – were once the stomping ground of the first Asian ITF Hall of Famer in 2024.

 ‘’The city and BTA shaped my tennis dreams and it’s payback time for me.  Focussing on the grassroots for the development of fresh talent is very important and I have got it mapped out. However, I will be a student of sports administration to start with and will work with and under my predeccesors to provide a continuity to the work they have done,’’ remarked Leander, referring to veteran tennis administrator Hironmoy Chatterjee seated next to him, the long serving BTA supremo and a former secretary of All India Tennis Association (AITA).

 It’s a happy coincidence in the business of sports governance of the state that two of the biggest sporting icons from the city will be at the helm of state bodies – what with good friend Sourav Ganguly taking guard for his second innings as the president of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB). Leander, of course, wants more sporting icons to roll up their sleeves: ‘’Let the likes of Sachin, Dhoni or Virat also get their experience into play.''

Moving on to India’s sensational away Davis Cup triumph against Switzerland last week, Leander was effusive in his praise of Sumit Nagal & Co. It was after 32 years that India managed to tame a European nation at their backyard – as Leander and Ramesh Krishnan were at the forefront of a historic 3-2 win over a powerful France at Frejus.

Replying to a National Herald query, he said: ‘’I am proud of the Indian team which went to Europe and beat Switzerland in Switzerland. Sumit and the boys did very well in singles and nothing else gives me a greater sense of pride than to see Indians dominate in different parts of the world. It’s over 30 years since we beat France in south of France, comprising of a team with Henri Leconte, Arnaud Boetsch and the likes. It took us some doing to beat them on clay in southern France.’’

If there was one media query which irritated him was about not having a worthy successor to him from the next generation. ‘’See, I find it a bit unfair… look at how many slams have Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza. There are some very promising names in Suresh Dakhineswar – new talents will always come up,’’ the man with an incredible seven Olympic appearances signed off.