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tennis Rajeev Ram
usinfo | 2013-06-19 14:21
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| Country | United States |
| Residence | Carmel, Indiana, USA |
| Born |
March 18, 1984 (age 29) Denver, Colorado, USA |
| Height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) |
| Weight | 82 kg (180 lb) |
| Turned pro | 2004 |
| Plays | Right-handed (one-handed backhand) |
| Prize money | $1,560,886 |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 29–50 |
| Career titles | 1 |
| Highest ranking | No. 78 (November 16, 2009) |
| Current ranking | No. 88 (May 13, 2013) |
| Grand Slam Singles results | |
| Australian Open | 2R (2013) |
| French Open | 1R (2010) |
| Wimbledon | 1R (2009, 2010) |
| US Open | 1R (2004, 2005, 2009,2012) |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 98–96 |
| Career titles | 7 |
| Highest ranking | No. 33 (February 22, 2010) |
| Current ranking | No. 44 (November 12, 2012) |
| Grand Slam Doubles results | |
| Australian Open | QF (2010, 2012) |
| French Open | QF (2011) |
| Wimbledon | QF (2007, 2012) |
| US Open | 2R (2004, 2008, 2009,2010, 2012) |
Rajeev Ram (born March 18, 1984 in Englewood, Colorado) is an American professional tennis player on the ATP Tour. He is a tall, lanky player with a serve-and-volley style who is known best as a doubles specialist. He has advanced as far as the quarterfinals in doubles at three Grand Slams, most recently with Scott Lipsky at the 2012 Australian Open. He won his only ATP singles tournament in Newport, Rhode Island in 2009, winning seven straight matches to claim the title (two in qualifying and five in the main draw). He also won the doubles title for that tournament on the same day.
Ram has claimed six ATP doubles titles in his career, with several different partners. His career-high singles ranking is world no. 78, achieved on November 16, 2009. He reached as high as world no. 33 in doubles on February 22, 2010.
Personal
Ram is the son of Raghav and Sushma Ram. Ping pong, cricket (in particular, off spin bowling), and music are some of Ram's pastimes. His favourite cricket batsman is Lala Amarnath. His parents are from Bangalore, India.[1]
Career
Before professional career
In his junior career, Ram won a total of nine national junior titles, including singles and doubles. Amongst 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, Kalamazoo doubles and the Target Cup tournaments. In addition to his nine junior titles, Ram played high school tennis at Carmel High School, earned All-State honors, became the state singles champion, and earned a scholarship in both 1998 and 1999.
Ram then delayed enrollment at the University of Illinois until the second semester 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 and helped the Fighting Illini go undefeated (32–0) and win the NCAA team championship.
Rajeev earned a wild card entry into the Juniors' 2001 US Open. Ram participated in all of the Grand Slam junior tournaments [1]. He was the runner-up in juniors doubles at the 2002 Wimbledon, partnered with Brian Baker.
Professional years
At the 2005 US Open, he lost in five sets to Stanislas Wawrinka. At the 2006 US Open, he lost in the second qualifying round to former college teammate Amer Delic. Rajeev made the 2007 Wimbledondoubles quarterfinals as a qualifier with Harel Levy, before losing to eventual champions Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra. Along the way, Ram and Levy upset the 15th seeded team of Martín Garcíaand Sebastián Prieto. 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.
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 and then partnered withJordan Kerr to advance to the doubles semifinals with wins over Arnaud Clément/Olivier Rochus and Nicolas Mahut/Fabrice Santoro. Mahut, Santoro, and Rochus each played three matches that day, though none of them won all their matches. Ram then went on to beat Rochus and world no. 39 Sam Querrey on consecutive days to capture his first ATP title.[2] He also captured the doubles title.
In his return to Newport in July 2010, Ram lost to no. 417-ranked qualifier Raven Klaasen after defeating Iván Navarro in the first round. Having raced to a 5–0 lead in the third set, Ram wasted several match points while serving at 5–1 before eventually losing, 7–5, 1–6, 6–7.
In Atlanta in July 2010, partnering with American Scott Lipsky, he won their first doubles title with Lipsky, defeating Rohan Bopanna and Kristof Vliegen for the outdoor hard court Atlanta Tennis Championships.[3][4] In the semifinals, Lipsky and Ram had defeated John Isner and James Blake.[5] In November, they won a tournament in Eckental, Germany.[6]
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 from Austria) and the outdoor hard court Delray Beach titles (over Alejandro Falla from Colombia and Xavier Malisse from Belgium).[3][7][8] In March, he and Lipsky won the Challenger of Dallas.[7] In June, he and Lipsky advanced as far as the quarterfinals at the 2011 French Open, before being defeated.[9]
2013
In 2013, he teamed with Rohan Bopanna. In Chennai, they reached the quarterfinals, only to fall to Benoît Paire and Stanislas Wawrinka.
At the Australian Open, they reached the second round, but lost to the Italian team of Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini.
In Dubai, they reached the semifinals, where they lost to Mahesh Bhupathi and Michaël Llodra.
