Leander Paes cleared the hall in his Mumbai home to train daughter during lockdown

At the start of 2020, Leander Paes had announced that this would be his final year on the tennis circuit. Then came the pandemic, meaning the 18-time Grand Slam winner will delay his retirement from the sport by a year.

Over the last seven months, Paes says, he has still been trying to develop his skills. “Tennis is a tough individual sport where 99 per cent of our tournaments are away from India. I have been working hard to develop my talents. In Rio 2016, I became the first Indian and the only tennis player to compete at seven Olympic Games, and I am aiming to make it eight in Tokyo next year,” he said.

Meanwhile, he’s also training his teenage daughter Aiyana, who wants to follow in his footsteps. “Aiyana wants to become an Olympic champion. We do skipping and core exercises. I have cleared the hall [in his Mumbai house], so she can practise her game. You can use a chair to work on your triceps, which is what I’m teaching her,” he adds.