An emotional Leander Paes, who has possibly played his last ATP event match in India, stated that he will miss the massive home crowd support that he has enjoyed over his long career. The 46-year-old shed a few tears when asked about his fans, at the post-match press conference here on Saturday.
“The fact that I’ve played my last match in India — it sunk in after the match when I was signing autographs.
“A young girl — must have been five or six years old — gave me a ‘One Last Roar’ t-shirt which was twice her size. She gave it to me and said, ‘Leander, can you sign this?’. She must have been about 40 years younger to me, and she wanted my autograph. It meant a lot to me, because she recognised the effort I have put into my career,” Paes said,
“And when I signed the t-shirt and gave it to her, she turned around and said ‘Bye’. She said bye. That’s a great way to go.”
