 The doubles team of Paes and Bhupathi grew stronger in 1998, reaching the semifinals of three Grand Slams, the Australian Open, the French Open, and the US Open. In the same year, Paes had two of his biggest singles results in the ATP tour. The first one came by winning his only ATP singles title at Newport, and the second was beating Pete Sampras, 6 – 3, 6 – 4, at the New Haven ATP tournament in their only meeting throughout the career. In 1999, the duo reached the finals of all four Grand Slams, winning Wimbledon and the French Open, thus becoming the first Indian pair to win a doubles event at a Grand Slam. Paes also teamed up with Lisa Raymond to win the mixed doubles event at Wimbledon. The year also marked his ascent to the no. 1 ranking in doubles. The following year, Paes partnered with Sébastien Lareau for the Australian Open and Jan Siemerink for the French Open, losing in the first round on both occasions. Paes teamed up again with Bhupathi for the US Open, but lost in the first round again. The duo had a disappointing second round exit to Australian duo of Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde at the Sydney Olympics, despite high hopes. Paes was given the honour of carrying the Indian Flag at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics. In spite of a winning the French Open in 2001, the team of Bhupathi and Paes had first-round exits in the other three Grand Slams. Paes was awarded the Padmashri by the Government of India in 2001. The duo of Paes and Bhupathi won the gold medal at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan. In 2002, Leander paired up with Michael Hill for a number of tournaments, with moderate success.
