Leander Who?

He is the holder of 14 Grand Slam doubles titles and recently became the oldest Grand Slam winner at the age of 40. Pete Sampras had a losing record against him in singles too. He has old school volleys in the age of power with great precision, a deft feel, uncanny anticipation and incredibly quick hands.

Nevertheless, when I referred to Leander Paes while working on volleys with three highly-ranked older boys the other day, they said, almost in unison, "That's so random."

"He's the current U.S. Open Doubles Champion and one of the best net players of all time," I replied.

"No … it's still random," one of them said while the others laughed. 

Doubles is the "Rodney Dangerfield" of tennis … it  "gets no respect, no respect at all."

Hmm … I'm curious to see what they think of that reference?

Centercourt
USTA NTC

January/February 2024 Digital Edition