| Rajeev Ram: A Dream That Came True |
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By Andre Chris. Smith, 10 NIS 4 ALL
With the US Open Series in full swing and the Atlanta Tennis Championship behind us we look at one of the winners of the doubles finalists: Rajeev Ram. Completing the first tournament in the US Open Series with a win in the Round of 32 to Karol Beck of 6-4, 7-6(4) only to lose to Andy Roddick in the Round of 16 at 1-6, 7-6(1), 3-6. Rajeev Ram came back in the doubles with is partner Scott Lipsky to win the finals against Rohan Bopanna/Kristof Vliegen 6-3, 6-7(4), 12-10 to be crowned the winner of the Atlanta Tennis Championship and making the return of the tournament to Atlanta, Georgia a memorable one for not only the fans, but also to himself. Born March 18, 1984 in Denver, Colorado to Raghav, a botanist and Sushma, a scientific technician, Rajeev Ram made the decision at an early age to be a professional tennis player. Rajeev started playing at the age of 4 or 5 and at the age of 19 was in the top 50 nationally of the USTA National rankings. In the years of 2000 to 2002 he was in the top 5 with titles including USTA clay courts, hard courts and even the Easter Bowl. He has achieved titles at the T-Bar-M Championships, the International Grasscourts and 2 Chanda Rubin tournaments; all before going to college. With the achievements in his junior years and still in high school Rajeev made the decision to delay his entry into college to pursue a professional career in tennis on the USTA circuit. In January of 2003 he decided to attend the University of Illinois which was under the watchful eye of Craig Tiley; now the Director of Tennis Australia and Tournament Director of the Australian Open. Rajeev developed into an even better player as he helped his team win several NCAA titles in singles and doubles with his partner Brian Wilson. Recently I interviewed Craig Tiley in his rule as coach of Rajeev Ram and he stated this, “Raj is a first class individual. I have always believed he will be great at what he does. He played a significant role in the success of Illinois Tennis and remains a great ambassador of the program. Raj has done it the right way - taken no short cuts, worked hard, played with class and always been consistent. Raj is a winner and will always be a great friend”. Rajeev never intended to go to the University of Illinois he had always put his sight on the California schools but his decision to go to the University of Illinois came after speaking to Coach Tiley and making the decision that even though he had achieved so much in the years prior he knew that playing under Coach Tiley would just improve his game 100%. As we look at Rajeev’s career since 2002 we see a career of great accomplishments; starting with his win at his first Futures in the United States. In 2003 Rajeev reached the Quarterfinals at the Denver Challenger, and in 2004 he won the Futures title in Canada and reached the Quarterfinals in the Challengers in Tallahassee, Denver and at some will call his home away from home Champaign, Illinois. Rajeev reached the finals at Aptos Challenger only to lose to Andy Murray and advanced to the Semifinals at Forest Hills and Sacramento in 2005. Also in 2005 he reached the Quarterfinals at Waikoloa, Binghampton and Yuba City; he reached the 3rd round at a hometown event in Indianapolis in doubles he won his first ATP World Tour title in New Haven with Reynolds. In 2006 he reached the finals at the Sacramento Challenger but lost to Goldstein, reached the semifinals at Winnetka to lose to Querrey; he went on that same year to reach the Quarterfinals in Dallas, Aptos, New Orleans, Maui and Joplin. 2007 he advanced to Quarterfinals in seven Challengers. In 2008 he reached the finals in Winnetka to defeat Jenkins and the finals in Binghampton only to lose to Capdeville. In 2009 for the first time he finished in the Top 100 in singles and Top 50 in doubles; while in July of the same year he won his first ATP World Tour in singles in Newport defeating Querrey in three sets. In the remainder of the 2009 he succeeded to capture a doubles title with Kerr to become the first double winner in Newport since Dan Goldie in 1987. He finished out the 2009 year with a title in Aachen defeating D. Brown in November and runner-up in Baton Rouge losing to Becker; along with his first ATP World Tour doubles title in Chennai with Butorac and later in Bangkok with Butorac to finish #39 in doubles. As it stands right now in 2010 he has won his first doubles title in Atlanta (the first tournament in the US Open Series) with his doubles partner Lipsky. With the rest of the year going quickly I asked Rajeev how did he feel his career was going and he stated, “I really think my career is going as well as I could have hoped because I’ve given 100% the entire time I’ve been out here. You can’t control results so all you can really do is try your best and work and I feel like I’ve done a pretty good job of that”. When asked what is his goals; Rajeev stated, “As for my goals I try and break them down to daily things I want to improve so that way I have motivation and purpose every time i get on the court”. As mentioned earlier by Craig Tiley, “Rajeev remains a great ambassador of the program” referring to the University of Illinois tennis team; I asked him what he felt is some advice that he could give to our young tennis players thinking about going professional on the tennis circuit, “For youth going into pro tennis my advice would be to do it for the right reasons, because they love the game. It's very hard if not impossible to be successful as a pro if you dont really have a passion for tennis. That’s what makes it fun”. As we close our look into Rajeev Ram’s professional tennis career to date we see that with the right guidance and support, every decision can be turned into accomplishments. Rajeev has a great past in tennis which is a sign that every dream can be accomplished with work and determination; and his future is what he will make of it. Read more at: http://10nis4all.wordpress.com/ |
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