Says tennis star Leander Paes even as he tries to juggle the roles of entrepreneur and actor.
Fresh from his success at the Australian Open, tennis star Leander Paes says the game will always remain his prime focus despite him growing as a brand and expanding his roots into celebrity management and even Bollywood, where he is set to debut as an actor.
“Alongside my tennis, I will concentrate a lot on my business venture which is celebrity management. My focus on philanthropy will be the same as any other year. There are quite a lot of things on my plate right now but my focus will always be tennis. I do owe a lot of things to the game. I got recognition for tennis and I want to play well and excel each year,” he says.
The tennis sensation, who has won the most number of Grand Slams (11) — a record that he jointly shares with his estranged tennis partner Mahesh Bhupathi — adds, “God has been very kind to me. I have been winning a lot of tournaments and 2010 is certainly going to be another big year for me. I want to extend my winning run this year by winning the Commonwealth Games as well the Asian Games. I will look to seriously push myself and perform better in all the major world tournaments. Any player competing at the highest level always wants to excel more and is never satisfied,” says Leander.
He is keen to win another Olympic medal. He, along with Mahesh, had won a bronze medal for India at the Atlanta Olympic Games 14 years ago. “The tournaments that I will play in this year will be a great build up to the Olympic Games (to be held in London in 2012) and I really want to win another Olympic medal,” he says.
Talking about philanthropy, Leander will again root for the Terry Fox Run that is dedicated to the positive spirit of a Canadian teenager of the same name. When Terry was suffering from bone cancer, he ran a marathon for 143 cancer patients. Nine months post his ‘Marathon of Hope’, Terry died.
“This is my third year of association with the Terry Fox Run and I’m proud to support them and spread the word around in whatever way I can. If my name can benefit this cause, I would be really humbled. I feel passionate for this and will continue to support the organisation with all my heart,” Leander says.
About his Bollywood debut, Leander says he hasn’t yet signed any project. “I’m in talks for a movie but I haven’t signed it yet.
Bollywood has been trying to cast me in a film for the last 14 years
but I haven’t really got too excited about the kind of stuff that has come my way. So if I get really excited about a project, I will do it,” he ends.
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