The legendary Indian tennis player Leander Paes predicted another ten years for India to produce a Grand Slam champion. Peas talked about the sharp decline in India's success in tennis tournaments in recent years and said all the involved parties, including himself, need to focus on the grassroots level to produce some numbers in the Grand Slams.
Paes, who won a record 18 Grand Slam titles and a historic bronze medal in the Summer Olympics, was joined by his former teammates Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupati at the Tennis Premier League 2024 player auction event in Mumbai on Wednesday.
The legendary trio won a combined 36 majors in doubles and mixed doubles till 2016 but India managed to win just two Grand Slam titles after that, both by Rohan Bopanna. India's lack of success in Grand Slam tournaments has led to many pointing out the lack of infrastructure to churn out winners in the nation of 140 million people.
The 51-year-old Paes asked his fellow tennis veterans to reach out to the talent from rural areas to develop them for the feeder system before talking about the Grand Slam winners.
"I think it's probably going to take another 10 years to produce a Grand Slam champion," Leander Paes said. "I think that the focus needs to be on the grassroots base level and then the feeder system coming up, then you churn out the numbers.
"I 100% believe we have tremendous talent in India, but I believe it's people like myself along with the governance, along with the whole sporting fraternity, to reach out to that talent in rural areas in places where maybe those children are not as fortunate as you and I, to have the parents who gave us that platform to stand on. I think it's a responsibility for us to reach out there and find that talent, test that talent and once you pick it, bring it into academies where you nurture the talent."
