PUNE: For Rajeev Ram, his first Grand Slam success came at 36 when he won the Australian Open title with Briton Joe Salisbury two years ago.
Since then, the pair has added two US Open trophies, the ATP Tour Finals crown last season, three Masters titles and reached No. 1 in rankings.
It might have taken a while for them to reap the rewards of hard work, but the trophies seem to be coming their way one after another now.
And the success has been made all the more enjoyable, especially for Ram who is the older of the two, since it has come after they had given up their singles careers, although for entirely different reasons.
“For me, it was a physical thing, really. My body couldn’t handle the rigours of singles at that point, I think it was thirty-four or five, in 2017. I probably could have played a little bit more singles, but that would have been the end of my career,” Ram, the American World No. 3, said in an interview with ToI at the Tata Open Maharashtra here on Sunday.
“Like you said, it was so many years of hard work before I won a slam but it really didn’t feel like that because my doubles career kind of started in 2016 or ’17.”
Salisbury, 30, had to give up his singles dreams quite early on as he had to deal with a condition called mononucleosis, which severely disrupted his junior career.
“It was probably when I was about 16. I had glandular fever for about a year and had some chronic fatigue issues after that. It was part of the reason why I stopped playing singles,” said the World No. 4.
The other common thread in their career is coming from a country rich in tennis history and, therefore, living upto some expectation.
Ram was in fact nicknamed ‘Rampras’ for the resemblance his service motion had with the great Pete Sampras.
“Obviously anything to do with Pete Sampras in tennis is a compliment. That’s sort of how I learned tennis. I learned by watching and imitating and I ended up with a serve that I guess somewhat resembles his. I wish it was a little bit more like his in terms of actually how good it is,” the Indian-origin American said.
Salisbury said the age difference between the two did not matter as both had the right “attitude” and “similar personalities”.
“There’s a bit of an age gap. But I think we’re quite similar in how we approach a lot of things on and off the court,” the London native said.
“We have a similar mentality, and quite similar personalities as well, in a lot of ways. And we have a good attitude towards keep getting better, keep improving. No matter the kind of success we have, whether we have some bad tournaments or win a tournament, we just have the same attitude.”
In an era where partnerships don’t last long, Ram said the key to doubles success was finding solutions as a team rather than as an individual.
“I appreciate the fact that it’s a team sport, and one of the things that I’ve learned is how to be a little bit better in a team environment,” he said, “because we have a partner out there and we have to figure things out as a pair, not just as an individual.
“That’s why, my advice to people that are trying to make it or come up in the doubles ranks is … don’t worry so much about the tennis side of it.
“But find that situation where you feel you can have the best partnership and I think that’ll produce the best results. I always thought it was more about tennis, but I don’t think that’s the case anymore.”
Since then, the pair has added two US Open trophies, the ATP Tour Finals crown last season, three Masters titles and reached No. 1 in rankings.
It might have taken a while for them to reap the rewards of hard work, but the trophies seem to be coming their way one after another now.
And the success has been made all the more enjoyable, especially for Ram who is the older of the two, since it has come after they had given up their singles careers, although for entirely different reasons.
“For me, it was a physical thing, really. My body couldn’t handle the rigours of singles at that point, I think it was thirty-four or five, in 2017. I probably could have played a little bit more singles, but that would have been the end of my career,” Ram, the American World No. 3, said in an interview with ToI at the Tata Open Maharashtra here on Sunday.
“Like you said, it was so many years of hard work before I won a slam but it really didn’t feel like that because my doubles career kind of started in 2016 or ’17.”
Salisbury, 30, had to give up his singles dreams quite early on as he had to deal with a condition called mononucleosis, which severely disrupted his junior career.
“It was probably when I was about 16. I had glandular fever for about a year and had some chronic fatigue issues after that. It was part of the reason why I stopped playing singles,” said the World No. 4.
The other common thread in their career is coming from a country rich in tennis history and, therefore, living upto some expectation.
Ram was in fact nicknamed ‘Rampras’ for the resemblance his service motion had with the great Pete Sampras.
“Obviously anything to do with Pete Sampras in tennis is a compliment. That’s sort of how I learned tennis. I learned by watching and imitating and I ended up with a serve that I guess somewhat resembles his. I wish it was a little bit more like his in terms of actually how good it is,” the Indian-origin American said.
Salisbury said the age difference between the two did not matter as both had the right “attitude” and “similar personalities”.
“There’s a bit of an age gap. But I think we’re quite similar in how we approach a lot of things on and off the court,” the London native said.
“We have a similar mentality, and quite similar personalities as well, in a lot of ways. And we have a good attitude towards keep getting better, keep improving. No matter the kind of success we have, whether we have some bad tournaments or win a tournament, we just have the same attitude.”
In an era where partnerships don’t last long, Ram said the key to doubles success was finding solutions as a team rather than as an individual.
“I appreciate the fact that it’s a team sport, and one of the things that I’ve learned is how to be a little bit better in a team environment,” he said, “because we have a partner out there and we have to figure things out as a pair, not just as an individual.
“That’s why, my advice to people that are trying to make it or come up in the doubles ranks is … don’t worry so much about the tennis side of it.
“But find that situation where you feel you can have the best partnership and I think that’ll produce the best results. I always thought it was more about tennis, but I don’t think that’s the case anymore.”
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