At age 39, Rajeev Ram added another milestone to his growing list of pro tennis achievements.
The 2002 Carmel High School graduate and partner Joe Salisbury won their third consecutive U.S. Open men’s doubles title Sept. 8 in New York.
“It’s hugely satisfying not just because it’s not been our best year, but we made history doing it,” Ram said. “No other team in the Open Era (since pros were admitted in 1968) has won three in a row at the U.S. Open. That is something I’m extremely proud of, more so than turning a bad year around.”
Ram and Salisbury, seeded third, rallied to defeat Matthew Ebden and Rohan Bopanna, seeded sixth, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
“Experience was a huge part of it,” Ram said of the comeback. “We were in the same spot two years ago in our first U.S. Open final, down 6-2 after the first set. We were getting killed. It was a very similar situation. It felt like the momentum was going against us, but we knew we’d been there before and came out on the good end of that one. That gave us the belief we could do it and took away any of the panic feelings that it was getting away from us.”
The partners also won the Australian Open in 2020.
This year, they have been slowed by nagging injuries. Ram has been bothered by an Achilles injury, and his British partner has dealt with back issues. Ram said both have been better physically of late.
“I started to feel better playing on hard courts,” Ram said. “The middle part of the season playing on the different surfaces of clay and grass made it tougher on me.”
Ram didn’t have long to celebrate, leaving New York for Croatia the following day to play for the U.S. in the Davis Cup Group D.
Ram also has two Australian Open mixed doubles titles with Barbora Krejcikova in 2019 and 2021. He won an Olympic silver medal for the U.S. with Venus Williams in 2016.
