Leander Paes has been the foremost flagbearer for Indian tennis for over two decades now. During these years, the champion has gone through the whole gamut of highs and lows, in singles and doubles, for self and for country in a career fuelled by passion. That zest does not seem to have dimmed one bit as he heads into a scarcely less dazzling twilight of his career, as he turns 39 later this month. Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to catch up with the doubles veteran at Roland Garros, in a freewheeling discussion that revolved around his success this season, his goals for the year, the inevitable elephant in the room – the Olympics, while even finding time to take a short trip down memory lane to talk about his first Davis Cup partner.

Janko Tipsarević finally broke into the top 10 of ATP Tour rankings for the first time in late 2011, virtually 10 years after turning Pro. While 2011 proved to be the most successful season and a year of the many firsts for the 27-year old Serb, it also turned out to be a rather frustrating year as the Serb battled many an injury. We bring you a quick recap of his accomplishments this year.

The Serb won his first ever ATP Tour title at Proton Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur in October 2011 by defeating Marcos Baghdatis in straight sets in the final. Tipsarević didn't have to wait too long for his second title, as he captured the Kremlin Cup in Moscow in quick succession. Entering the tournament as the top seed, Tipsarević took the title defeating the defending champion Viktor Troicki in straight sets in the first all-Serbian final in tennis history. In November 2011, Janko broke into the top 10 at the ATP World rankings for the first time, reaching a career high ranking of No.9.

Milos Raonic, the 21 year old Canadian tennis star was ranked 156 in the ATP Tour rankings at the beginning of 2011. Coming into the year, Raonic and his coach Galo Blanco each wrote down what they believed his year-end ranking would be and sealed it in an envelope – Raonic wrote 47 and Blanco 31. Raonic finished the year at 31!

Raonic did not have the best of starts to the new season as he failed to qualify for the main draw of the Chennai Open 2011. However, the Canadian caught the attention of the tennis world by reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open. Raonic continued his impressive run by winning the SAP Open title at San Jose in February 2011 and finishing runner-up at Memphis the following week. Further, he was instrumental in re-establishing Canada in the Davis Cup. However, Raonic suffered a set back at the Wimbledon Championships where he sustained a hip injury and was out of action for six weeks. Following his return to the circuit, he picked up right from where he left off by reaching the semifinals of the Stockholm Open.

Defending Champion, Stanislas Wawrinka, will open his campaign for the new season at the Chennai Open for the third year in a row. The Swiss, currently ranked No. 17 in the ATP Tour rankings had a perfect start to the season in 2011 when he lifted his first hard court title by defeating Xavier Malisse in three sets in the Final at the SDAT stadium here in Chennai. That title triumph helped Wawrinka break back into the top 20 of the ATP rankings.

The Swiss continued his fine run by reaching the quarterfinals at the Australian Open and at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 at Indian Wells, the semifinals at the Swiss Indoors Basel, and the 4th round at the Roland Garros. Ironically, he lost to his compatriot Roger Federer on each of those occasions. Later this year, Wawrinka joined hands with Federer helping Switzerland to a 3-2 win over Australia in the Davis Cup World Group play-off in September.