Nobody in Rajeev Ram’s family played tennis. But when Ram was three or four years old, his neighbours had kids who were on their high school tennis team.
“I would always wonder where they were going with their bags and racquets. We had a court in our apartment complex, and my dad would just take me out to play,” Ram said. “He didn't know anything about it. I had a bit of a knack for it, and that just became our thing. He would come home from work and we would go to the tennis court.”
Ram, now 42, liked all sports growing up, but seemed to be a little bit better at tennis than the others he played. It is a good thing he stuck with it.
The former No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Doubles Ranking retired after reaching the US Open semi-finals with longtime partner Joe Salisbury, who later also announced his own retirement.
“I got to play this game because other people cared enough about me to make it possible. I mean that's the reality of it, whether it's to start with my parents, then it was the coaches that I had. I was really lucky,” Ram said. “My parents didn't know much about tennis, but they knew how to find the people that did, and they knew how to find the people that most importantly cared about me first.”
Ram began working with coach Bryan Smith when he was 14, and Smith remained by his side throughout the American’s career, including during this year’s US Open.
It was a fitting farewell at Flushing Meadows, considering his head coach at the University of Illinois was Craig Tiley, now the USTA CEO, and Ram defeated US Open Tournament Director Eric Butorac in the lefty's final match.
Ram and Salisbury won a record three consecutive US Open titles from 2021-2023, and also claimed back-to-back Nitto ATP Finals crowns in 2022 and 2023.
Ram won 32 tour-level doubles titles in his career and 511 tour-level matches overall. He remained competitive until the end, claiming ATP Masters 1000 glory with Nikola Mektic last year and coming within two wins of a major title in his final tournament.
And before beginning to fully focus on doubles in 2017, the righty enjoyed a standout singles career on the ATP Tour. Ram, who became known for his serve looking similar to Pete Sampras’ delivery, won singles titles in Newport in 2009 and 2015, and reached a career-high No. 56 in the PIF ATP Rankings in 2016.
But it was never about the wins and losses for Ram. While the American is proud of his achievements, at his roots he remains someone who loves the sport.
“If you'd have told me I would have gotten to play here once, I'd have taken it. I'd have been like, ‘Well, that's pretty cool’. I got to play the US Open. I got to play Wimbledon or whatever. I got to play it once,” Ram said. “First of all, to play it 20 odd times, whatever, 26 times, and then to be lucky enough to hold the trophy here, I don’t even know. But the reality for me is I never played to try and win. I tried to just play to be the best player I could be. I didn't know what that was going to be. And so I guess, for me to know that my best was good enough to compete to win this title a few times, is really special.”
Although Ram is unsure what the future holds for him, he hopes to inspire future generations. In 2014, he started EntouRaj for Kids in Indiana, partnering with a local tennis organisation to raise money for kids to receive college scholarships and to help fund tennis programmes. Today it is the Rajeev Ram Foundation, which hosts clinics for kids from underserved areas.
“If I can inspire one or two kids to just play the game, it doesn't have to be about being a professional. This game gives us so many lessons just from picking it up,” Ram said. “You get to learn how to compete, you get to learn so much about yourself, you get to learn how to be teammates and partners and opponents, character and all that. So I don't think it has to be [that] you have to play the game as your job to get the most out of it.
“So I would say that's high on my list, is just introducing the game to people that maybe wouldn't have come across it before.”
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