Leander Paes, the man who practically invented the "never-die" spirit in Indian tennis, has just executed a sharp cross-court slice. By joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Paes has embarked on his second political stint — his first being a brief, largely decorative baseline rally with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in 2021, a short-lived experiment.

Encouraged by Prashant Kishor’s I-PAC to be a face for the party’s national expansion, Paes campaigned extensively across the coastal state. However, the end result was a clinical shutout; the TMC failed to win a single seat, and Paes soon faded from the party's active roster.

High-stakes political return ahead of Bengal polls

The new move, however, carries the weight of a high-stakes Grand Slam final. With........

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