Paes shares career experiences in AITA's coaches' webinar

Indian tennis great Leander Paes answered questions regarding the importance of mental and physical health in AITA's coaches' webinar on Monday.

Leander Paes felt that it is important to help the sporting fraternity during the difficult times caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

In testing times of the coronavirus-forced lockdown, most of the players and the coaches are finding it difficult to keep themselves motivated. With no sporting activities, the Sports Authority of India and the All-India Tennis Association (AITA) have organised webinars for coaches to make the most out of it.

On Monday, India’s tennis ace Leander Paes, had a long session with the AITA registered coaches, where he spoke at length about the mental, emotional and physical aspects of the game.

The two-hour session saw the coaches from across the country quiz Paes on a range of topics.

“There were discussions on how to handle physical health, emotional health and tennis technique. It was a good way to interact with him and understand a thing or two. It was a long and quite an enriching session for all the coaches. In such times, sessions like these are actually quite helpful,” one of the participants said.

While he touched upon various aspects of the game, there were lighter questions on Paes’ 'No-look-volley challenge' which took the social media by storm.

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Speaking to Sportstar about his experience, Paes said that it is important to support the sporting fraternity in the time of crisis.

“It was wonderful to bring some happiness to the sports fraternity and answer their questions in the webinar. It is important during this unprecedented lockdown that we all do our bit for our community,” he said. During the interaction, the 18-time Grand Slam champion also emphasised on the fact that "it is important to focus on learning new skills during the lockdown."

The fate of the sporting events in India is unknown with the government extending the national lockdown until May 17. So far, over 42,000 people have been infected by the novel coronavirus which led to over 1,300 deaths.