 He went one better at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics , where he beat Fernando Meligeni to win the bronze medal , thus becoming the first Indian to win an individual medal since KD Jadhav won bronze at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics more than four decades earlier . Paes cited the match as one of his greatest performances on the court , in part because his wrist was severely injured . He was awarded the highest sporting honour by the government of India , the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna in 1996 . His first successful year in the ATP circuit came in 1993 , when he partnered Sébastien Lareau to reach the US Open doubles semifinal . After having a moderate season in 1994 , he reached the quarter @-@ finals of the 1995 Australian Open doubles with Kevin Ullyett . From 1996 , he partnered with fellow @-@ Indian Mahesh Bhupathi , which would prove to be a winning combination . Their first year was not a very successful one , especially in the Grand Slams , with a round of 32 finish at Wimbledon being the best . 1997 proved to be a much better year for the team of Paes and Bhupathi , with the semifinals of the US Open their best Grand Slam result . Paes climbed the doubles ranking from no . 89 at the beginning of the year to no . 14 at the end of the year . That year he also made his best singles performance in a Grand Slam , getting to the third round of the 1997 US Open , beating Carlos Costa and Arnaud Boetsch before losing to Cédric Pioline . 
