Rise In Doubles-

The doubles team of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi grew stronger in 1998 reaching the Semi-Finals of 3 grand slams, the Australian Open, the French Open and the US Open. In the same year Paes had two of his biggest singles results in the ATP tour. The first one came by winning an ATP singles title at Newport and the second was beating Pete Sampras 6-3, 6-4 at the New Haven ATP tournament. In the year 1999, the duo reached the finals of all the 4 grand slams winning the Wimbledon and the French Open, thus becoming the first Indian pair to win a doubles event at a Grand slam event. Paes also teamed up with Lisa Raymond to win the Mixed doubles event at Wimbledon. The year also marked his ascent to the No. 1 ranking in the doubles. The following year Paes partnered with Sébastien Lareau for the Australian Open and Jan Siemerink for the French losing in the first round on both occasions. Paes teamed up again with Mahesh Bhupathi for the US Open but lost in the first round again. The duo had a disappointing second round exit to Australian duo of Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde at the Sydney Olympics, despite high hopes. Paes was given the honour of carrying the Indian Flag at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics. In spite of a winning the French Open in 2001, the team of Bhupathi and Paes had 1st round exits in the other 3 grand slams. Paes was awarded the Padmashri by the Government of India in 2001. The duo of Paes and Bhupathi won the gold medal at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan. In 2002 Leander paired up with Michael Hill for a number of tournaments with moderate success.

Between 2003 and present, Paes has increasingly focused on his doubles and mixed doubles game. Leander won the Mixed doubles events at the Australian Open and Wimbledon with Martina Navaratilova, both in 2003. Weeks after the win at Wimbledon, Paes was admitted to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center - Orlando for a suspected brain tumor that was later found to be neurocysticercosis, a parasitic brain infection. While being treated he had to miss the US Open, but he recovered by the end of that year. In the 2004 Athens Olympic Games he paired up with Mahesh Bhupathi, failing again at the semi finals stage. His next Grand Slam success was in the U.S. Open doubles event in 2006 with Martin Damm. Paes lead the Indian tennis team at the Doha Asian Games in 2006 and won two golds in the Men's doubles (partnering Mahesh Bhupathi) and Mixed doubles (partnering Sania Mirza). Paes has maintained his doubles ranking in the top 20 in the world between 2005 and 2007. With wins in the Rotterdam and ATP Masters Series in Indian Wells, Paes has taken his doubles tally to 38, as of May 2007. Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi took part in the men's doubles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. They were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka who went on to win the men's doubles gold medal ^[32]. Later in 2008, with Cara Black, he won the 2008 US Open Mixed Doubles title. In 2009, he won the French Open and US Open Men's Doubles titles with Lukáš Dlouhý, and was the runner-up in the Mixed Doubles final of the US Open. He began the 2010 season in good form again winning the 2010 Australian Open – Mixed Doubles title along with Cara Black. This was the pair's 3rd consecutive grand slam final and the 4th overall. The 2010 Wimbledon win with Cara Black makes Paes India's leading grand slam winner ahead of his ex- doubles partner Mahesh Bhupathi with a total of 12 grand slam titles.