Rajeev Ram ( ; born March 18, 1984) is an American professional
tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player. He has been ranked
world No. 1 in men's doubles by the
Association of Tennis Professionals
The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is the governing body of the men's professional tennis circuits – the ATP Tour and the ATP Challenger Tour. It was formed in September 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, and Cliff Drysdale to p ...
(ATP). Ram is a six-time
major
Major most commonly refers to:
* Major (rank), a military rank
* Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits
* People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames
* Major and minor in musi ...
champion, having won the
2020 Australian Open, the
2021 US Open, the
2022 US Open, and the
2023 US Open in men's doubles with
Joe Salisbury
Joe Salisbury ( ; born 20 April 1992) is a British professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
He is a six-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2020 Australian Open and the 2021, 2022 and 2023 US Opens in men's do ...
, as well as Australian Open mixed doubles titles in
2019
This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year.
Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...
and
2021
Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...
alongside
Barbora Krejčíková
Barbora Krejčíková (; born 18 December 1995) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has been WTA rankings, ranked as high as world No. 2 in singles and List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles by the Wome ...
. Ram has also won two Olympic silver medals, in mixed doubles with
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American inactive tennis player. She has been ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA for 11 wee ...
at the
2016 Olympics
The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...
, and in doubles with
Austin Krajicek
Austin Krajicek ( ; born June 16, 1990) is an American professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 1 in doubles by the ATP in June 2023. He attained a career-high singles ranking of world No. 94 in October 2015.
A form ...
at the
2024 Olympics
The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...
.
He also finished runner-up in men's doubles at the
2021 Australian Open, and in mixed doubles at the
2016 US Open. He became world No. 1 for the first time in October 2022, and has won 31 doubles titles on the
ATP Tour
The ATP Tour (known as ATP World Tour between January 2009 and December 2018) is the sole worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) founded in 1990 that replaced the earlier dual Grand Prix ...
, including five at
Masters 1000 level, and 2 in singles. Ram has qualified for the
ATP Finals
The ATP Finals is the season-ending championship of the ATP Tour. It is the most significant tennis event in the men's annual calendar after the four majors, as it features the top eight singles players and top eight doubles teams based on their ...
on six occasions, winning the title in
2022
The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...
and in
2023
Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...
, having finished as runner-up in both
2016
2016 was designated as:
* International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
* International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
and
2021
Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...
.
Prior to his retirement from singles in 2017, Ram reached a career-high ranking of world No. 56 in April 2016, and won two ATP YEAT singles titles, at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in both
2009
2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
and
2015
2015 was designated by the United Nations as:
* International Year of Light
* International Year of Soil __TOC__
Events
January
* January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
. He made his
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...
debut for the United States in 2021, and competed at the
2016
2016 was designated as:
* International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
* International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
, the
2021
Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...
and the
2024
The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...
Olympic Games.
Early life
Ram was born in
Denver
Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
to Raghav and Sushma Ram, both immigrants from India. His father was a
Kannadiga
The Kannadigas or Kannadigaru (), often referred to as Kannada people, are a Dravidian ethno-linguistic group who natively speak Kannada, primarily in the south Indian state of Karnataka and its surrounding regions. The Kannada language belongs ...
from
Bangalore
Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...
and his mother is from
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...
. Ram has described his knowledge of
Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
as "decent," but admitted that he unsuccessfully tried to learn
Kannada
Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...
, the language of his father's family.
Ram attended
Carmel High School in
Carmel, Indiana. His father died of
pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...
in 2019.
Junior and college career
In his junior career, Ram won a total of nine national junior titles, including singles and doubles. Among his titles were the National Claycourt 14-and-under singles title, the boys' 16-and-under national championship, the 18-and-under Easter Bowl title, and the Target Cup tournaments. In addition to his nine junior titles, Ram played high school tennis at
Carmel, earned All-State honors, became the state singles champion, and earned a scholarship in both 1998 and 1999.
Rajeev earned a wildcard entry into the Juniors'
2001 US Open. Ram participated in all of the
Grand Slam junior tournaments. He was the runner-up in juniors doubles at the 2002
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
, partnered with
Brian Baker.
Ram then delayed enrollment at the
University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the fo ...
until January 2003 so that he could continue to play tennis as an amateur on the pro circuit.
During his one semester at Illinois, he won the national doubles title with
Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson (June 20, 1942 – June 11, 2025) was an American musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often Brian Wilson is a genius, called a genius for his novel approaches to pop compositio ...
and helped the Fighting Illini go undefeated (32–0) and win the
2003 NCAA team championship.
Professional career
2007–08
In 2007, he won five doubles Challenger titles partnering
Bobby Reynolds, and reached three other finals on his way to a career-high doubles ranking of No. 62.
On July 5, 2008, Ram won the Nielsen USTA Pro Tennis Championship in Winnetka, Illinois for his first career Challenger-level singles title.
2009: First ATP singles and doubles titles
He won his first ATP doubles title in Chennai, India 2009 with compatriot
Eric Butorac.
On July 10, 2009, Ram accomplished the unusual feat of winning four professional-level tennis matches in one day. At the Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Rhode Island, the tournament had been rained out early in the week, pushing back many scheduled matches. On July 10, Ram advanced to the singles semifinals with wins over
Samuel Groth and
Jesse Levine
Jesse Levine (born October 15, 1987) is an American-Canadian former professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles rank of world No. 69 on October 1, 2012. Levine represented the United States through 2012, and he represented Ca ...
and then partnered with
Jordan Kerr
Jordan Kerr (born 26 October 1979, in Adelaide) is a retired Australian professional tennis player.
Kerr reached a career high ATP singles ranking of World No. 356, which he achieved on 7 August 2000. Additionally, he reached a career high ATP ...
to advance to the doubles semifinals with wins over
Arnaud Clément
Arnaud Clément (; born 17 December 1977) is a French former professional tennis player and Davis Cup captain. Clément reached the final of the 2001 Australian Open and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 10 in April 2001. He ...
/
Olivier Rochus
Olivier Rochus (; born 18 January 1981) is a former Belgian tennis player.
Rochus won two singles titles in his career and in 2004 won the French Open doubles title, partnering fellow Belgian Xavier Malisse. His career-high singles ranking is wo ...
and
Nicolas Mahut
Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut (; born 21 January 1982) is a French professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
He is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having completed the career Grand Slam with victories at th ...
/
Fabrice Santoro
Fabrice Vetea Santoro (; born 9 December 1972) is a French former professional tennis player. Successful in both singles and doubles, he had an unusually long professional career, with many of his accomplishments coming towards the end of his ca ...
. Mahut, Santoro, and Rochus each played three matches that day, though none of them won all their matches. Ram then beat Rochus and
Sam Querrey
Samuel Austin Querrey ( ; born October 7, 1987) is an American professional pickleball player and former tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 achieved on February 26, 2018, and won ten ATP singles titles. Known ...
on consecutive days to capture his first ATP title. He accomplished the rare feat of winning a title as a
lucky loser
A lucky loser is a sports competitor (player or team) who loses a match in a knockout tournament or loses in qualifying, but who then enters the main draw. This can occur when another competitor withdraws during the tournament because of illness ...
and also captured the doubles title.
In Atlanta in July 2010, he won his first doubles title with American
Scott Lipsky, defeating
Rohan Bopanna
Rohan Machanda Bopanna ( ; born 4 March 1980) is an Indian professional tennis player who specializes in doubles.
He attained the List of ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 ranking after winning his first Grand Slam (tenni ...
and
Kristof Vliegen for the outdoor hard-court
Atlanta Tennis Championships.
In the semifinals, Lipsky and Ram had defeated
John Isner
John Robert Isner (born April 26, 1985) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 8 in singles and No. 14 in doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Considered one of the best servers ...
and
James Blake. In November, they won a tournament in Eckental, Germany.
2011
Ram started 2011 strong, partnering with Lipsky in February to take the indoor hard court San Jose Open (over
Christopher Kas from Germany and
Alexander Peya
Alexander Peya (born 27 June 1980) is an Austrian tennis coach and a former professional player. His career-high doubles ranking was World No. 3, first achieved in August 2013. He also reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 92 in April 200 ...
from Austria) and the outdoor hard-court
Delray Beach titles (over
Alejandro Falla
Alejandro Falla Ramírez (; born 14 November 1983) is a Colombian former professional tennis player. The left-hander turned professional in 2000 and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 48 in July 2012. At the 2006 Wimbledon tou ...
from Colombia and
Xavier Malisse
Xavier Malisse (born 19 July 1980) is a Belgian tennis coach and a former professional player. Born in the north-western Flemish Region, Flemish city of Kortrijk and nicknamed ''X-Man'', he is one of only two Belgian men (the other being David G ...
from Belgium).
In June, he and Lipsky advanced to the quarterfinals at the
2011 French Open.
2013
In 2013, he teamed with
Rohan Bopanna
Rohan Machanda Bopanna ( ; born 4 March 1980) is an Indian professional tennis player who specializes in doubles.
He attained the List of ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 ranking after winning his first Grand Slam (tenni ...
, and in Dubai, they reached the semifinals.
2014: First Grand Slam doubles semifinal
At the
2014 US Open (tennis) he reached his first Grand Slam semifinal partnering
Scott Lipsky where they were defeated by top seeds and eventual champions,
the Bryan brothers.
2015: Second ATP singles title
At the
Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, he reached his second career final and won his second career ATP singles title by defeating
Ivo Karlović
Ivo Karlović (; born 28 February 1979) is a Croatian former professional tennis player. His height of 211 cm (6 ft 11 in) makes him the joint-tallest ranked tennis player in history (along with Reilly Opelka). He won eight ATP Tour si ...
.
2016: Olympic silver and first Major mixed doubles final, ATP Tour Finals runner-up
At the
Delray Beach Open, Ram reached his third career final and first singles final outside the grass courts of the Hall of Fame Open, losing to Sam Querrey. At the
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...
, he won silver with
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American inactive tennis player. She has been ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA for 11 wee ...
in mixed doubles. Less than a month later, Ram and
CoCo Vandeweghe advanced to the
mixed doubles final at the
US Open, where they were defeated in straight sets by
Mate Pavić
Mate Pavić (; born 4 July 1993) is a Croatian professional tennis player. He is the current world No. 1 in doubles by the ATP. Pavić is one of only six men to complete the Career Golden Slam in doubles.
He is a seven-time Grand Slam champio ...
and
Laura Siegemund.
In men's doubles, Ram and partner
Raven Klaasen
Raven Klaasen ( ; born 16 October 1982) is a South African professional tennis player who specialises in doubles.
He achieved his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 7 in August 2019, and has won 19 doubles titles on the ATP Tour, includi ...
reached the finals for the
ATP World Tour Finals.
2017: Retirement in singles, First doubles Masters title at Indian Wells
2019: Australian Open mixed doubles title
Ram, with his partner
Barbora Krejčíková
Barbora Krejčíková (; born 18 December 1995) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has been WTA rankings, ranked as high as world No. 2 in singles and List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles by the Wome ...
won the
Australian Open mixed doubles title.
2020: Australian Open doubles title, top 5 debut
Ram, with his partner
Joe Salisbury
Joe Salisbury ( ; born 20 April 1992) is a British professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
He is a six-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2020 Australian Open and the 2021, 2022 and 2023 US Opens in men's do ...
won the
Australian Open men's doubles tournament, defeating
Max Purcell
Max Purcell (born 3 April 1998) is an Australian professional tennis player. He has reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 40 on 16 October 2023 and a doubles ranking of No. 8 on 9 September 2024.
In doubles, he won his first Gran ...
and
Luke Saville
Luke Saville (born 1 February 1994) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He has had success as a doubles player where he reached his highest ranking of World No. 23 on 8 November 2021. Saville reached the final at the 2020 Austra ...
in the final. As a result, he reached a career high of world No. 5 in doubles, on February 3, 2020.
2021: Second Australian Open mixed & US Open & Masters doubles titles, World No. 4
Ram and partner
Barbora Krejčíková
Barbora Krejčíková (; born 18 December 1995) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has been WTA rankings, ranked as high as world No. 2 in singles and List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles by the Wome ...
won
Australian Open mixed doubles tournament, defeating
Matthew Ebden
Matthew Ebden (born 26 November 1987) is an Australian professional tennis player who reached a career high of List of ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles.
Ebden is a three-time Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ch ...
and
Samantha Stosur
Samantha Jane Stosur (born 30 March 1984) is an Australian former professional tennis player. She is a former List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles, a ranking which she first achieved on 6 February 2006 and ...
.
He also competed in the
men's doubles tournament with partner
Joe Salisbury
Joe Salisbury ( ; born 20 April 1992) is a British professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
He is a six-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2020 Australian Open and the 2021, 2022 and 2023 US Opens in men's do ...
to defend their title, but lost to
Ivan Dodig
Ivan Dodig (; born 2 January 1985) is a Croatian professional tennis player who specializes in doubles. He reached his career-high doubles ranking of World No. 2 in September 2023.
He is a seven-time Grand Slam champion, having won men's double ...
and
Filip Polášek
Filip Polášek (; born 21 July 1985) is an inactive Slovak professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He reached his highest doubles ranking of world No. 7 in February 2020, and has won 17 titles on the ATP Tour.
He was forced to re ...
in the final.
He reached the final and won his third Masters 1000 in Canada at the
National Bank Open with Salisbury, defeating world No. 1 and No. 2 Croatians, Pavic and Mektic, his second final for the year at a Masters level after the
Italian Open, where they lost to the Croatian pair. As a result, he returned to the top 5, on August 16, 2021.
At the
2021 US Open Ram, partnering with Salisbury, reached the final, defeating
Matthew Ebden
Matthew Ebden (born 26 November 1987) is an Australian professional tennis player who reached a career high of List of ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles.
Ebden is a three-time Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ch ...
/
Max Purcell
Max Purcell (born 3 April 1998) is an Australian professional tennis player. He has reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 40 on 16 October 2023 and a doubles ranking of No. 8 on 9 September 2024.
In doubles, he won his first Gran ...
in a nearly-three-hour-long match, saving four match points in the quarterfinals and
Sam Querrey
Samuel Austin Querrey ( ; born October 7, 1987) is an American professional pickleball player and former tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 achieved on February 26, 2018, and won ten ATP singles titles. Known ...
/
Steve Johnson in the semifinals. The pair won the men’s doubles tournament, defeating
Jamie Murray
Jamie Robert Murray (born 13 February 1986) is a British professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He is a seven-time Grand Slam (tennis), major doubles champion (five in mixed doubles and two in men's doubles), a Davis Cup winne ...
and
Bruno Soares
Bruno Fraga Soares (; born 27 February 1982) is a Brazilian former professional tennis player who specialised in doubles.
A doubles specialist, Soares won six Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major titles, the 2016 Australian Open – Men's d ...
in the final. As a result, he reached a career high of world No. 4 in doubles, on September 20, 2021.
2022: US Open champion, Two Masters 1000 titles, ATP Finals Crown, World No. 1
He became World No. 2 on April 4, 2022 after reaching the quarterfinals at the
2022 Miami Open, losing to eventual champions
Hubert Hurkacz
Hubert Hurkacz (; born 11 February 1997) is a Polish professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 6 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, making him the highest-ranked Polish man in singl ...
and
John Isner
John Robert Isner (born April 26, 1985) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 8 in singles and No. 14 in doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Considered one of the best servers ...
, with his partner Joe Salisbury who became World No. 1. He won the
2022 Monte-Carlo Masters
The 2022 Monte-Carlo Masters (also known as the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters for sponsorship reasons) was a tennis tournament for male professionals, played on Clay court, outdoor clay courts. It was the 115th edition of the annual Monte Carlo Master ...
with Salisbury defeating sixth-seeded pair of
Robert Farah and
Juan Sebastián Cabal
Juan Sebastián Cabal Valdés (; born 25 April 1986) is a Colombian former professional tennis player. A world No. 1 in doubles, he also reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 184 in February 2011.
Cabal is a three-time Grand Slam cham ...
.
He won his second Masters of the season at the
2022 Western & Southern Open with Salisbury. At the
2022 US Open, Ram and Salisbury defended their title, defeating
Wesley Koolhof
Wesley Koolhof (; born 17 April 1989) is a Dutch former professional tennis player who was ranked World No. 1 in doubles.
He is a two-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2023 Wimbledon Championships in men's doubles with Neal Skupski an ...
and
Neal Skupski in the finals. This was the third Grand Slam title together for Ram and Salisbury.
They became just the second team to repeat as men's doubles champions at this Major in the Open era other than
Todd Woodbridge
Todd Andrew Woodbridge, OAM (born 2 April 1971) is an Australian broadcaster and former professional tennis player. During his playing career, he formed multiple Grand-Slam winning doubles partnerships with Mark Woodforde (nicknamed " The Wo ...
and
Mark Woodforde
Mark Raymond Woodforde, OAM (born 23 September 1965) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. He is best known as one half of " The Woodies", a doubles partnership with Todd Woodbridge.
Woodforde was born in Adelaide, and join ...
who went also back-to-back in New York. Ram became the oldest first-time World No. 1 in the doubles rankings on October 3, 2022. He is the 18th American to become No. 1 in the rankings.
The pair ended the year by winning the ATP Finals in Turin, Italy, beating Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic 7-6, 6-4 in the final.
2023: Third US Open doubles title
Ram began his 2023 season at the
Maharashtra Open with
Joe Salisbury
Joe Salisbury ( ; born 20 April 1992) is a British professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
He is a six-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2020 Australian Open and the 2021, 2022 and 2023 US Opens in men's do ...
. The pair reached the semifinals before losing to 4th seeds Vliegen/Gille. Next, at the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, Ram and Salisbury lost in the third round.
In the U.S. Sunshine Swing, the pair entered the
Indian Wells Masters seeded second and fell in the third round to
Grigor Dimitrov
Grigor Dimitrov Dimitrov (, ; born 16 May 1991) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, making him the highest-ranked Bulgari ...
and
Hubert Hurkacz
Hubert Hurkacz (; born 11 February 1997) is a Polish professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 6 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, making him the highest-ranked Polish man in singl ...
. At the
Miami Masters, they experienced another early exit in the fourth round.
In the spring clay court season, Ram and Salisbury reached their maiden masters Quarterfinals of the season at the
Rome Masters
The Italian Open () is an annual professional tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is played on clay courts at the Foro Italico, and is held during the second week of May. The tournament is part of the ATP 1000 events on the ATP Tour and ...
.
At the
2023 US Open, Ram and Salisbury defended their title, defeating
Rohan Bopanna
Rohan Machanda Bopanna ( ; born 4 March 1980) is an Indian professional tennis player who specializes in doubles.
He attained the List of ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 ranking after winning his first Grand Slam (tenni ...
and
Matthew Ebden
Matthew Ebden (born 26 November 1987) is an Australian professional tennis player who reached a career high of List of ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles.
Ebden is a three-time Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ch ...
in the finals. It was their third straight US Open title.
2024: Olympics Silver medal and split from Salisbury
In July 2024, Rajeev Ram and
Austin Krajicek
Austin Krajicek ( ; born June 16, 1990) is an American professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 1 in doubles by the ATP in June 2023. He attained a career-high singles ranking of world No. 94 in October 2015.
A form ...
won the doubles match against Ukraine for an insurmountable 3-0 lead in the best-of-five-match qualifying series. Their victory secured a spot for the United States in the
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...
Finals group round.
He won the silver medal with Austin Krajicek at the
Paris Olympics. Aged 40, Ram became the oldest tennis player to win an Olympic medal in 116 years (since 44 years-old
George Hillyard in 1908).
At the
US Open, Ram and Salisbury went out in the third round to
Nathaniel Lammons
Nathaniel Lammons (born August 12, 1993) is an American professional tennis player who specializes in doubles. He has a career-high ATP ranking of world No. 17 in doubles, achieved on 27 January 2025. He has won 10 ATP doubles titles.
A former ...
and
Jackson Withrow, suffering their first loss at the tournament in four years after a run of 20 successive wins. Three weeks later they announced they had ended their partnership.
2025: Auckland doubles final
Partnering with
Christian Harrison, Ram reached the doubles final at the
Auckland Classic, but withdrew before the match against
Nikola Mektić and
Michael Venus due to Ram suffering an arm injury.
World TeamTennis
Ram made his
World TeamTennis
World TeamTennis (WTT) was a mixed-gender professional tennis league played with a team format in the United States, which was founded in 1973.
The league's season normally took place in the summer months. Players from the ATP and WTA would ...
debut in 2017 with the
San Diego Aviators. He joined the
Chicago Smash for its debut season, during the 2020 WTT season set to begin July 12.
Significant finals
Grand Slam finals
Doubles: 5 (4 titles, 1 runner-up)
Mixed doubles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)
Year-end championships finals
Doubles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runner-ups)
Masters 1000 finals
Doubles: 9 (5 titles, 4 runner-ups)
Olympic medal matches
Doubles: 1 (1 silver medal)
Mixed doubles: 1 (1 silver medal)
ATP career finals
Singles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)
Doubles: 56 (31 titles, 25 runner-ups)
Records
* These records were attained in the
Open Era
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Edgbaston, Warwickshire, England, now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today a ...
of tennis.
Performance timelines
Singles
1 Held as
Hamburg Masters (outdoor clay) until 2008,
Madrid Masters (outdoor clay) 2009 – present.
2 Held as
Madrid Masters (indoor hard) until 2008, and
Shanghai Masters (outdoor hard) 2009 – present.
Doubles
''Current through the
2024 Madrid Open.''
1 Held as
Hamburg Masters (outdoor clay) until 2008,
Madrid Masters (outdoor clay) 2009 – present.
2 Held as
Madrid Masters (indoor hard) until 2008, and
Shanghai Masters (outdoor hard) 2009 – present.
Mixed doubles
''Current through the
2024 Australian Open.''
References
External links
*
*
*
Fighting Illini Men's Tennis Player Profile*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ram, Rajeev
1984 births
Living people
American male tennis players
Olympic silver medalists for the United States in tennis
Tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2024 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics
ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles
Australian Open (tennis) champions
US Open (tennis) champions
Carmel High School (Indiana) alumni
Illinois Fighting Illini men's tennis players
Sportspeople from Arapahoe County, Colorado
Sportspeople from Carmel, Indiana
Tennis players from Colorado
Tennis players from Indiana
American tennis players of Indian descent
American people of Kannada descent
American Hindus
21st-century American sportsmen