The Latest on Leander Paes’ Open War Against Sania and Bopanna

There was no mincing of words.

Leander Paes has launched a fresh attack on Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna. (Photo: PTI)

India lost the Davis Cup World Group play-off tie to Spain on Saturday itself with the defeat in the doubles rubber. Leander Paes and Saketh Myneni went down 6-4 6-7(2) 4-6 4-6 to Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez, thus losing the tie 3-0 even before it hit Sunday.

Having given a tough fight to the Rio Olympics’ gold medal-winning doubles team and also being called the “one of the biggest stars of doubles and one of the best player in the history of the sport” by Rafael Nadal, Leander Paes decided it was time to finally talk shop (refer: Rio controversies)

“I can very clearly say that in this Olympics and last Olympics we didn’t put the best team forward. This Olympics, the mixed doubles was a great opportunity. What more does a man need to do than win four Grand Slams in 14 months,” said the 18-time Grand Slam champion, referring to Sania Mirza’s decision to partner Rohan Bopanna in Rio – a player who’s yet to win a Grand Slam title.

The pair lost the semifinal match and eventually finished fourth.

Soon after Leander’s post-match comments, his two junior colleagues took to Twitter to, umm... clarify their stance.

Leander Paes during the Davis Cup World Group play-off tie against Spain. (Photo: PTI)

And in the Monday morning edition of this saga, the 43-year-old has launched a fresh attack on his ‘jealous competitors’.

In this part of my career, most of my competitors are highly jealous. They might not understand what it takes to win 18 Grand Slams and play seven Olympics. Some competitors, you give them 10 lifetimes, they will still not be able to achieve that. Instead of working hard, they want to knock me down.

Leander Paes to <i>PTI</i>

The tennis great also added, “In this modern age of living in the limelight, everybody wants to be a hero. People will bark, let them bark, they will look bad themselves. I will run my race. Till a junior comes and says ‘Lee, I am beating you all the time’, till I am winning Grand Slams, I will continue to play. I had to earn it and others will also have to earn it.”

Ummm... who’s next?