“Tees saal khelne ke liye thoda pagal hona chahiye, kunki ye aasan kaam nahi hai [You have to be mad to play for 30 years because it’s no easy task]. At this age, I am still working hard for my eighth Olympics,” Paes, who will be 48 when the Tokyo Olympics begins on July 23, told mid-day on the sidelines of the announcement of the player auction for the third edition of Tennis Premier League [TPL] in Andheri. Paes is the co-owner of one of the teams, Mumbai Leon Army. The TPL will be held in December.

Paes claimed that he has a great opportunity to make it to Tokyo. “I believe that Rohan [Bopanna] and Divij [Sharan] have not qualified as a team; their individual results have not been so good. So, we need to send the best team that has a chance to win a medal. I’ve been saying that for long. So I think that’s what drives me forward,” said Paes, adding that he has lost six kilos since resuming practice at Khar Gymkhana three weeks ago. 

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“I’m enjoying my passion again and training hard. It’s one thing to train to be fit, but to train as a champion and to eat as a champion is very tough. I’m happy to be back on that journey again. 

“I’m not doing 10 hours a day anymore, probably just six. But the quality and intensity of work is very high because it takes a lot more effort at this age to get the same results as you did when you were 25 or 35. I feel I’m on the right track. My body feels good. I just need to find my rhythm now,” 
said Paes.

Speaking of the prevalent COVID-19 situation, the former India Davis Cup captain said that he has lost of lot of close friends to the virus. “It was challenging in some ways because I lost as many as 38 very close family and friends to the Coronavirus. I’m everyone’s SOS call. I don’t want to delve too much into it, but it’s not been easy. I’ve had to be very cautious because of my dad [Vece] and mom [Jennifer],” he concluded.