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Injury rules Leander out of Wimbledon

Rifat Jawaid, in Calcutta

Indian tennis ace Leander Paes will not defend his men's doubles and mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon this year.

The wrist injury which forced him to withdraw from his third round mixed doubles match at the ongoing French Open will keep him out of the June 26-July 9 tournament.

Leander's father Dr Vece Paes told rediff.com this evening that Leander had undergone a CT scan on his wrist and the reports suggested that he needs a three-week rest before wielding the racket again.

"The scan report came around 1600 IST today and Leander said he has been advised complete rest of three weeks," said Dr Paes.

He added: "Leander's disappointed, but as you know he's been a great fighter. He believes in taking things as they come. Though he's mentally shattered, primarily due to the fact that he will not be participating in an event in which he had won two titles last year, he expressed optimism of coming back with vengeance on the international tennis arena after recovering from the injury."

Sources said that Leander's injury is not all that serious as his tendon is not completely torn. However, his wrist will be in a cast for at least a month, or even more, and he will need another four to six weeks to get get back into acton. Which means that he could also miss the US Open.

Leander and his partner Lisa Raymond were seeded No. 2 in the mixed doubles at the French Open, and had entered the third round, beating Nana Miyagi and Michael Hill 6-2, 6-3 in the second. They were given a first round bye.

At last year's Wimbledon championships, Leander and Mahesh Bhupathi were the top seeds, and they went on to beat Dutchman Paul Haarhuis and his American partner Jared Palmer in the men's doubles final 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 to emerge champions.

Leander also won the mixed doubles crown partnering Lisa Raymond. The No 1 seeds beat the third-ranked combination of Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Anna Kournikova of Russia, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the final.