 Leander Paes started his Davis Cup career in 1990 at the young age of 16, when he partnered Zeeshan Ali in doubles to beat the Japanese team in a gruelling five-set encounter. He is considered one of the top Davis cup players for his country, with a record of 89 – 32 overall, as of July 2015. He played an important role in the Indian Davis cup team that reached the World Group from 1991 – 1998. He was part of the Indian Davis Cup team that reached the semifinals of the 1993 Davis Cup with wins against Switzerland and France, eventually losing to Australia. In singles, his major wins came against French duo of Arnaud Boetsch and Henri Leconte in Fréjus, France in 1993, Wayne Ferreira in 1994, and Goran Ivanišević in 1995 when India defeated Croatia, Jan Siemerink in 1995 to defeat Netherlands, and Jiří Novák in 1997. He teamed up with Bhupathi to beat Hirszon and Ivanisevic of Croatia in 1995, Martin Damm and Petr Korda of the Czech Republic in 1997, Nicolás Massú and Marcelo Ríos of Chile in 1997, Broad and Tim Henman in 1998, and Simon Aspelin and Jonas Björkman of Sweden in 2005. In 2007, Leander has three wins (two doubles and one singles) and no losses in the Davis Cup.
