Sanjay Singh has been Leander Paes’s Man Friday for nearly 29 years on the professional Tour. He has learnt so much from travelling with Leander that he has grown into a fine coach.
He has now taken under his wings Brazilian Luisa Stefani, who won the women’s doubles title at the Lexington WTA event in August along with Hayley Carter of the US, and is competing in the ongoing US Open.
Stefani trains with Sanjay at the Saddlebrook Academy in the US and has moved from 380 four years ago to her current rank of 39 in doubles, a career-high. The 23-year-old is happy with her progress under Sanjay. “Trust is important,” she said and was confident that Sanjay was playing a significant role in her growth. The duo interacted with the tennis fraternity on Instagram, in the Ace Talks series of Decathlon. The experience at the US Open this time has been different for Sanjay. He observed that it was a challenge for coaches to communicate with their players “with the mask on”.
Sanjay also recalled his humble beginnings when he used to play with his uncle’s bent wooden racquet at the South Club in Kolkata, using one side for serve and the other for playing strokes!
South Club in Kolkata was where Paes learnt his tennis too. “Leander has been of great support and always encouraged me to learn new things and upgrade my skills,” recalled Sanjay.
