Leander Paes, Lukas Dlouhy win French Open men's doubles

Leander Paes celebrated his ninth Grand Slam doubles! Seems like this guy never slow down!

Paes teamed with Lukas Dlouhy to capture the French Open title with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman.

It was 35-year-old Paes's fifth men's doubles Grand Slam. He has also won four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, including the 2003 Wimbledon and Australian Open trophies with Martina Navratilova.

Navratilova was spotted at the stand sitting next to Bill Gates.

"Martina has been a soulmate for many years. We've been through a lot in life, especially me in the last eight years. She's been along with me, supporting me, guiding me at times," said Paes.

"When I was diagnosed with cancer and I couldn't play, she basically stayed away from the game and didn't play mixed doubles until I came back."

"Whenever I look at a person like Navratilova, she gives me a lot of inspiration. It was strange that just at the end of the second set when we were getting a bit nervous and a bit edgy, she came out there and was just making eye contact."

"Lukas served three doubles faults early in the third set. I told him at one point, Martina is out there. Come on. Have a look at her. She's inspiring us."

Paes and Dlouhy first teamed up at Roland Garros last year, losing in the last 16 to eventual champions Pablo Cuevas and Luis Horna.

They then finished runners-up to Mike and Bob Bryan in the 2008 US Open final.

"We started playing together at Roland Garros last year. We lost then to the champions so we made it a point that we would come back and try and win it this year," added Paes.

Judging from the way they celebrated their win by hugging and hoisting each other into the air, they'll probably stick around for more Grand Slam moments like this.

In the women's doubles, Spaniards Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual won their second consecutive French Open women's doubles title by beating Victoria Azarenka and Elena Vesnina 6-1, 6-1 on Friday.


(Via AP; Images by Patrick Kovarik/Matthew Stockman/AFP/Getty Images)

Venus and Serene Williams take the gold in Olympic tennis women's doubles

Silver medallists Anabel Garrigues (2nd L) and Virginia Ruando Pascual (L) of Spain, gold medallists Venus Williams (3rd L) and Serena Williams (3rd R) of the US and bronze medallists Yan Zi (2nd R) and Jie Zheng (R) of China pose on the podium at the awards ceremony following the women's doubles tennis final during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games yesterday.

Venus and Serena Williams play together in the Olympic women's doubles and walk away with the gold medal. The famous American sisters overpowered Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain 6-2, 6-0 in an 1 hour 6 minutes match.

“I’m so excited, I can’t even speak,” said the 28-year-old Venus, who has already won seven doubles Grand Slam titles and a gold medal in Sydney alongside younger sister Serena.

The pair didn’t enter the doubles competition in Athens four years ago because Serena was injured at the time.

“To share this kind of moment with your sister,” Venus said, “it never grows old.”

It doesn’t hurt when your sister is one of the best in the world.

“I don’t know anyone out there who would get tired of playing with Venus Williams,” said the 26-year-old Serena, who as a singles player is ranked eighth in the world, three spots behind No. 5 Venus.

“We were really focused from the first point. We really wanted to win,” said Serena, whose trophy cabinet includes 30 singles titles, eight of them Grand Slams. “We feel like we’ve contributed to our country in a huge way. That’s really what it’s all about.”

When the red carpet was rolled out on center court, the sisters climbed the medal podium together holding hands. A beaming Venus bobbed her head to the beat as “The Star-Spangled Banner” was played. Both Venus and Serena were beaten in the quarterfinals of the women's singles.

The bronze medal went to China's Yan Zi and Zheng Jie who delivered the host country’s only tennis medal by beating Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-2, 6-2.

(Images by BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)
(Text viaYahoo! Sports)