 Leander Paes started his Davis Cup career in 1990 at the young age of 16 , when he partnered <unk> Ali in doubles to beat the Japanese team in a gruelling five @-@ set encounter . He is considered one of the top Davis cup players for his country , with a record of 89 – 32 overall , as of July 2015 . He played an important role in the Indian Davis cup team that reached the World Group from 1991 – 1998 . He was part of the Indian Davis Cup team that reached the semifinals of the 1993 Davis Cup with wins against Switzerland and France , eventually losing to Australia . In singles , his major wins came against French duo of Arnaud Boetsch and Henri Leconte in Fréjus , France in 1993 , Wayne Ferreira in 1994 , and Goran Ivanišević in 1995 when India defeated Croatia , Jan Siemerink in 1995 to defeat Netherlands , and Jiří Novák in 1997 . He teamed up with Bhupathi to beat <unk> and Ivanisevic of Croatia in 1995 , Martin Damm and Petr Korda of the Czech Republic in 1997 , Nicolás <unk> and Marcelo Ríos of Chile in 1997 , Broad and Tim Henman in 1998 , and Simon Aspelin and Jonas Björkman of Sweden in 2005 . In 2007 , Leander has three wins ( two doubles and one singles ) and no losses in the Davis Cup . 
