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Indian tennis legend Leander Paes made a humorous comment in response to a social media user asking him for tips on winning an Olympic medal in tennis.
An X (previously known as Twitter) user named Saurabh Sharma, on Thursday, posted on his handle:
"Hey @Leander, I want to win an Olympic medal in tennis just like you did. Any tips?"
Interestingly, Saurabh posed in a picture holding a badminton racket. Paes wrote something for the netizens to have a moment of laughter. He responded to the user, writing:
"Start by playing tennis with a tennis racket."
Leander Paes happens to be the only tennis player in the country to finish on the podium at an Olympics event. At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, he defeated Brazil's Fernando Meligeni 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the bronze medal playoff of men's singles.
Paes ended the country's medal drought after three editions and also became the first individual athlete to win a medal in the quadrennial event since 1952 (KD Jadhav's bronze in men's bantamweight wrestling).
Leander Paes reacts to being a dancer as his profession
Leander Paes is the most successful tennis player in the country's history, having won 18 Grand Slam titles - eight in men's doubles and 10 in mixed doubles. Following his Olympics success in Atlanta, the Kolkata-born tennis ace was bestowed with the Khel Ratna Award by the Government of India.
His Olympics career stretched from 1992 to 2016, making him the Indian tennis player with the most appearances in the history of the Games - seven in a row. In December last year, Paes was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, becoming the first player from the country to achieve it.
Despite all the national and international accolades received by the Indian stalwart, a young kid happened to assume him as a famous dancer. An X user named Prithvi shared a funny incident, where his six-year-old niece made an error in a 'match the following' exercise.
On one side of the column, prominent Indian names like Virat Kohli, Leander Paes, Lata Mangeshkar and Prabhu Deva were mentioned, while on the other hand, their professionals were included. The young kid was correct while matching cricketer Virat Kohli and singer Lata Mangeshkar but mismatched the professions of Paes and dancer Prabhu Deva.
However, the tennis ace took this on a lighter note and posted a meme video of him dancing with his image being morphed into Indian actor Salman Khan. He wrote the caption:
"The rumours are true."
