Leander Paes’ Olympic medal at Atlanta 1996: Triumph of mind over matter
Leander Paes is the first Indian to win an Olympic medal in tennis. The bronze at Atlanta 1996 was also India’s first individual medal at the Summer Games in 44 years.
Tennis
Ever so often, there comes a time when the stars align in perfect symmetry for athletes to do no wrong. The zone, as it's commonly known, was what Leander Paes experienced at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics.
“After losing the first set and when I was serving at 1-2 and 30-40 in the second set, something magical happened,” Leander Paes told Olympics.com.
“I got into what we athletes call ‘the zone’ where you don’t really remember what happened for that 45-minute period.”
Paes was down a set against Fernando Meligeni in the bronze medal match at Atlanta 1996 and staring down the barrel with a break-point to save in the second set. However, Leander Paes went on to become the first Indian to win an Olympic medal in tennis. In fact, he is also the first Asian to win a medal in tennis at the Olympics.
It was India’s first individual Olympic medal in 44 years as well and the nation's only medal at Atlanta 1996.
“When I saved the break-point, won that game 2-2, won the second set and served for the match at 5-4 in the third, I got into a zone,” Paes recalled from his match at Stone Mountain Tennis Center .
“I don’t even remember the points because I was in such a trance. That’s why I talk about a mystical and magical experience.”
“When you play for 1.4 billion people, when you go out to play the Davis Cup or the Olympics, it’s a different feeling altogether,” the Indian tennis player added.
Leander Paes was ranked only 126 in the world when he had entered the 1996 Atlanta Olympics as a wild card. On the off-day between his semi-final and bronze medal clash, Paes’ wrist was placed in a hard cast after rupturing a few tendons in his wrist. Not only did the Indian overcome the injury but also bounced back from a set down to clinch the bronze medal.
“After losing to Andre Agassi in the semi-finals, I was in a hard cast for 24 hours and the morning of the bronze medal match where I came to play Fernando Meligeni, I realised that it was more mind over matter on that day,” Leander Paes explained.
Leander Paes' preparations for Atlanta's altitude
Leander Paes prepared for the 1996 Olympic Games meticulously.
“You know, I prepared for Atlanta very specifically. As soon as (1992) Barcelona finished, I spent four years preparing for Atlanta.
“I even took time off the Pro tour to play in tournaments that have high altitude. It resembled the conditions that were there in Stone Mountain, Atlanta. I played on all the hard courts with high altitude in South America,” he added.
But when he eventually did get to the Atlanta Olympics, Leander Paes found out that the draw wasn’t very kind to him.
“When I got to Atlanta, I saw that I had drawn Pete Sampras in the first round and all my contemporaries were tapping me on the back and telling me bad luck, it’s a tough draw. But I somehow felt that there was magic about Atlanta.
“There was something magical and mystical which is very hard to put into words. But Pete Sampras pulled out, as history will tell, and Richey Reneberg came in for him and I beat him in three sets.”
As it turned out, Leander Paes’ instincts of something magical unfolding at Atlanta proved to be bang on the money.
Leander Paes is still the only Indian tennis player to win a medal at the Olympics. It’s also a source of pride to the million Indians, who can still recall his finest hour.
“Trying to articulate how I feel gives me goosebumps even in a warm room because the magic of playing for my fellow Indians far supersedes when I play for myself in an individual tournament,” the seven-time Olympian said.
Leander Paes’ Olympic medal is now at the family residence in Kolkata sitting aptly next to his dad Vece Paes’ bronze from the 1972 Games.
A veteran of seven Games, Leander Paes will be remembered as the first Indian tennis player to win an Olympic medal.