Rajeev Ram ended his remarkable professional tennis career at the US Open on Thursday, bringing to a close a 26-year relationship with the tournament and a career that established him as one of the most accomplished Indian American players in American tennis history.
Ram and longtime doubles partner Joe Salisbury lost 6-3, 6-4 to Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz in the men’s doubles semifinals at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. But the defeat was followed by an emotional farewell ceremony attended by Ram’s family, friends, childhood coach and former colleagues.
“Honestly, it couldn’t have been better,” Ram told USOpen.org after the ceremony.
The 42-year-old American had entered the 2026 US Open with a record that reflected his extraordinary longevity. He made 26 consecutive US Open men’s doubles appearances, the most in tournament history, and teamed with Salisbury to become the only men’s doubles partnership to win three consecutive US Open titles. Their championship run came from 2021 through 2023.
For Ram, however, the significance of the moment extended beyond the trophies. His final US Open appearance brought together many of the people and places that shaped a career that began in the American Midwest and eventually took him to the top of international tennis.
An Indian American raised in Indiana
Ram was born in Denver, Colorado, to Raghav and Sushma Ram, immigrants from India. His father came from Bangalore and his mother is from Delhi. The family eventually settled in Carmel, Indiana, where Ram developed into one of the country’s leading junior tennis players.
He attended Carmel High School and won the Indiana boys singles state championship as a sophomore in 2000. He also captured nine national junior titles before moving into college tennis. His upbringing in Indiana became an important part of his identity as a player. Rather than emerging from one of the country’s traditional tennis academies, Ram developed his game in Carmel with longtime coach Bryan Smith, who began working with him when Ram was 14.
The USTA previously highlighted Ram as part of its Asian American tennis community, noting his Indian heritage, Carmel upbringing and accomplishments at the University of Illinois. His connection to his parents’ homeland also remained part of his life. Ram has spoken about his Indian family background and his comfort visiting India, where his father’s family has roots in Karnataka.
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A brief college career, an immediate national champion
Ram’s college career at the University of Illinois was short but extraordinary.
He enrolled at Illinois in January 2003 and helped the Fighting Illini complete a perfect 32-0 season, winning the program’s first NCAA team championship. Ram also won the NCAA men’s doubles title with Brian Wilson.
That season earned him Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors, All-Big Ten recognition and All-American honors in singles and doubles. He finished the season ranked among the nation’s top collegiate players.
Ram ultimately decided to leave college and pursue professional tennis.
Years later, he still regarded his Illinois championship as one of the defining moments of his career. In an interview with the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, Ram said winning the NCAA team title was his favorite tennis memory because it represented being part of something larger than an individual achievement.
From singles player to doubles champion
Ram initially pursued singles on the professional tour. He reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 56 in April 2016 and won two ATP singles titles, both at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, Rhode Island, in 2009 and 2015.
His greatest achievements, however, came after he increasingly shifted his focus to doubles.
Ram won his first Grand Slam title in mixed doubles at the 2019 Australian Open with Barbora Krejcikova. He followed that with the 2020 Australian Open men’s doubles title alongside Salisbury and another Australian Open mixed doubles championship with Krejcikova in 2021.
With Salisbury, Ram then established one of the most successful men’s doubles partnerships of the era.
The pair won three consecutive US Open men’s doubles championships from 2021 through 2023. They also won the 2022 and 2023 ATP Finals, while Ram reached the No. 1 doubles ranking in 2022.
Ram finished his career with six Grand Slam championships, including four in men’s doubles and two in mixed doubles, along with 32 ATP doubles titles and six Masters 1000 titles.
Two Olympic silver medals for Team USA
Ram’s legacy also extends beyond the Grand Slam circuit.
He represented the United States at three Olympic Games and won two silver medals.
At the 2016 Rio Olympics, he partnered with Venus Williams in mixed doubles to reach the final. Eight years later, at the Paris 2024 Olympics, Ram and Austin Krajicek won silver in men’s doubles. Team USA lists Ram as a three-time Olympian and two-time Olympic medalist.
He also represented the United States in Davis Cup competition, adding another chapter to his contribution to American tennis.
For an Indian American athlete, his career carried an additional significance. Ram’s success came while representing the country in which he was born and raised, while remaining connected to the Indian heritage of his family.
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Giving back to the next generation
Ram has increasingly emphasized the importance of making tennis accessible to young people rather than simply producing future professionals.
He established the Rajeev Ram Foundation in 2014, with a focus on introducing young people to tennis and supporting opportunities for junior players. That commitment has deep roots in his own experience growing up in Indiana. Ram previously spoke about wanting to give back to the community that supported him and help keep tennis relevant in the Indianapolis area. His message has remained consistent even as his playing career has ended.
“I don’t think you have to play the game as your job to get the most out of it,” Ram told USOpen.org. He said one of his priorities would be introducing tennis to people who might otherwise never encounter the sport.
A legacy larger than the trophies
Ram’s retirement closes a career that crossed generations of American tennis.
He began playing at the US Open as a junior, competed against and alongside some of the game’s biggest names, became an NCAA champion, reached No. 1 in the world in doubles, won six Grand Slam titles, captured two Olympic silver medals and helped the United States in Davis Cup competition.
But his legacy is also rooted in the communities that shaped him: an Indian immigrant family, Carmel, Indiana, the University of Illinois and the American tennis system that gave him his start.
His final US Open appearance offered a fitting conclusion. Ram walked onto the same tournament grounds where he had competed for more than two decades, alongside Salisbury, his longtime partner and one of the people most closely associated with the defining period of his career.
The result was a semifinal defeat, but the occasion became a celebration of longevity, achievement and an American tennis career that began with an Indian American family in Colorado and Indiana and ended with Ram standing among the most accomplished doubles players of his generation.
“I would just hope that the 10-year-old kid would know how much I enjoyed the whole ride,” Ram said of what he would tell his younger self.