PARIS — Leander Paes was in the right place, though it sure looked like it was at the wrong time.

Standing in position near the net in the third game of the men's doubles final at the French Open, Paes got hit right between the eyes by a volley and fell to his knees on the red clay.

He recovered quickly, though, and helped Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy rally to beat Dick Norman of Belgium and Wesley Moodie of South Africa 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 on center court Saturday to win the championship at Roland Garros.

"It's just one of those things that happens," Paes said. "At that moment I was in a lot of pain, and I basically sat down. I just had a throbbing headache the whole match."

Paes turned his back to the net after being hit by Norman's forehand volley and then dropped to the dirt. Dlouhy, the chair umpire and the opposing players gathered around Paes, and a bag of ice was brought from one of the courtside coolers.

Because the ball hit Paes, it was an automatic point for the other team, giving Norman and Moodie a 3-0 lead.

After a trainer checked Paes' eyes, the Indian veteran slapped hands with Norman before holding his first service game at love. On the third point, Paes sent a forehand smash back across the net toward Norman, but the Belgian jumped to get out of the way.

"You got to suck it up and go out there and just play hard," Paes said. "That's what professional sports are about."

Paes has now won five major titles in men's doubles. The first three came with Mahesh Bhupathi, and the fourth was with Martin Damm. Dlouhy won his first Grand Slam title after losing in three finals, including at the 2008 U.S. Open with Paes.

"After you win your first five Grand Slams, winning Grand Slams is just another number," said Paes, who has also won four mixed doubles titles at majors. "Really, it's just about going out there and playing hard and working hard and enjoying it."

The 38-year-old Norman is the oldest French Open men's doubles finalist in the Open era, which began in 1968. He and Moodie were playing only their third tournament together.

"They played unbelievable doubles," Norman said of Paes and Dlouhy.

Martina Navratilova, who won two of her 59 Grand Slam titles with Paes, watched the match from the stands with Bill Gates, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft.

"She's been basically a soul mate for many years. We've been through a lot in life, especially me in the last eight years," Paes said. "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."

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Associated Press writer Trung Latieule contributed to this report.