Leander Paes wowed tennis’s who’s who – and us – with his speech after his historic 2024 International Tennis Hall of Fame induction on Saturday.

“I was taught to be fearless on the tennis court,” he began, “But this? Wow! I counted more than 200 grand slams wins right here.”

Calcutta’s own tennis star, who represented India in seven Olympics and won bronze in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics at the age of 23, became the first Indian to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday at an event held in Newport, Rhode Island, the same court where Paes had won his first and only ATP singles title in 1998.

Also inducted into the Hall of Fame were fellow Indian Vijay Amritraj, under whose guidance Leander took his first steps in tennis in 1986, and journalist Richard Evans, who had inspired the young Leander to believe in himself. Both were included in the contributor category.

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‘I was conceived during when Palestinian terrorists attacked the Munich Olympics’

Leander gave an introduction to his family that left the audience smiling.

“I was born to a Bengali mother who was five foot nothing. She captained India in basketball. Mother had intuition, quick twitch fibers. She was a great leader. I was born to a father, six foot three. He was a doctor of medicine. Dotted every I, crossed every T. He was the center half of the Indian 1972 Munich field hockey team.”

“My dad won a bronze medal in 1972. And a few of you who remember that Olympics, Palestinian terrorists took Israeli athletes hostage. The games were shut down for four days. The German army was in the village. Civilians were not allowed in. The athletes were not allowed out. 10,000 athletes. In the Olympics, as we know, countries are housed along one street in alphabetical order. So, India was bang opposite Israel. They boarded the windows, locked the doors, removed their televisions and even removed the newspapers. I don't know what they were thinking, but I was conceived in those four days.”

He added as the audience guffawed: “I was born in June 1973, for any one of you who want to do the math.”

‘I grew up in Calcutta, played street cricket and street football barefoot’

The Olympian shared memories of his childhood idols whom he watched onscreen and some of whom were present at the induction ceremony.

“I grew up in Calcutta. I played street cricket and street football barefoot and I watched these two legends on a black and white TV. Chris Evert hit the ball clean. Every single ball she hit was clean. Her shirt was tucked in. Her favorite dress was pink and white.

“I heard Martina Navratilova was left-handed, served and volleyed, picked up shoelace volleys, and played aggressive tennis. I watched John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg. John McEnroe served and volleyed, picked up volleys from all over, played speed tennis. Very attractive.”

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‘I knew my legacy was to play for the blue of India’

“In Calcutta I grew up playing football,” Leander said. “At the age of 11 I went to a European football academy and on the 12th of May 1986, those coaches told me that I had to give up my Indian passport if I wanted to play for a European football club. Fair enough. But I knew my legacy was to play for the blue of India.

“On the 12th of May 1986, I moved to Madras, now known as Chennai, to the Britannia Amritraj Tennis Academy, and on that very same evening Richard Evans was in Madras writing Vijay's book. So there I was, 11 years old, walked up to Mr. Evans and said, ‘Good evening, Mr. Evans, I'm Leander Paes. And he goes, ‘So, what would you like to be?’ So I said, ‘Sir, I just gave up my dream of football and I'd like to emulate my father to win an Olympic medal.’ And this young man said to me on the 12th of May, 1986: ‘If you work hard enough, onedaymaybe you can be a hall of famer’.”

‘I would like to thank you so much for giving this Indian boy hope’

“It is my greatest honor to be on this stage with not only these legends of the game, [but] people who have inspired me every single day of my life,” Paes said. “Not because you have won Grand Slams, not because you have shaped the world of our sport. But every single one of these people has shaped the world that we live in. I would like to thank you so much for giving this Indian boy hope.”

‘I love you, Martina. You inspired me as a kid.’

There were several other Hall of Famers on stage at the induction event in Newport, including Paes’s former doubles partner Martina Navratilova who stood on the dias to introduce the Indian legend. She congratulated Paes for making India proud.

“I think my greatest blessing is not just my quick volleys, not just the 10,000 hours. 3 million perfect repetitions, but my greatest gift was to pick the best partners in the world,” Leander said. “I love you, Martina. You inspired me as a kid. You inspired me on the centre court of Wimbledon. You inspire me today, and standing on this podium, accepting this beautiful medal.

“I would humbly like to bow my head and thank the International Tennis Hall of Fame for doing such an exemplary, amazing job of capturing the history of our sport, honoring athletes in our sport. And I would not like to rest here today. I would not like to rest on my seven olympics, 20 grand slams, god knows how many Davis Cups, but I would like to pledge my collaboration, my effort, my passion to honor Captain Dan as I know him from my favorite movie, Forrest Gump. Patrick McEnroe, who I learned so many things from on the court,” he added.

‘Playing for 1.4 billion people could either be pressure, or it could be wind within your wings’

Leander spoke about pressure.

“Playing for 1.4 billion people could either be pressure, or it could be wind within your wings,” Paes said. “I’d like to thank every single one of my countrymen who supported me, who stood by me through all the ups and downs, and we’ve been through a few. But you all were the inspiration, you all were the support. You were even the strength to guide me through when I didn’t believe.

“But as my father always said to me, ‘If you believe in yourself, you work hard, you be passionate, not only to win prize money and not only to win trophies, but you do that to inspire the world’.It's been my greatest honor to play for my countrymen in seven olympics, to stand when the national anthem is playing in all those Davis Cups, and to prove that we asians can also win grand slams and be number one in the world in our field, be it tennis or anything.”