After pulling out of Asian Games, Leander Paes gets wildcard entry at Winston-Salem Open

The tournament itself will commence on 19th August, while Paes will play the opening match on the next day. His last ATP 250 tournament was Washington Open, which he played in the starting of this month, although twice missing the Masters tournaments, which were conducted after the event. As Paes starts his campaign in the tournament, Cerretani and he will have to take on Ben McLachlan paired with Jan-Lennard Struff.

He had to pull out of Asian Games at the last moment as there was no player available with the required doubles skill to partner with him. Asian Games will be conducting their tennis events, starting August 19. Paes withdrew from the games on Thursday, seeking an explanation from AITA authorities as to why they could not arrange for two doubles team having players with required skills.

“Despite my repeated requests, from so many weeks in advance, it is sad that we have not been able to put a doubles specialist in the team for a credible second doubles pairing for the Asian Games,” he said.Ramkumar Ramanathan or Sumit Nagal were the only options available for Leander Paes. Divij Sharan and Rohan Bopanna had been allowed to form a pair for the Asian Games on their request. Paes’ both options were of singles players.

This year, Paes had been missing out on a lot of professional events because of reason personal to him. This had resulted in a significant drop in his standings. Considering all this, Paes had cleared his schedule for the prestigious Asian Games beforehand, choosing the games over the US Open which would be held at the same time. Not appreciating his withdrawal from the Asian Games, Paes has been criticised for his decision, some of it coming from the All India Tennis Association itself.