PUNE: For Rajeev Ram, his first Grand Slam luck got here at 36 when he received the Australian Open identify with Briton joe salisbury two years in the past.
Since then, the pair has added two US Open trophies, the ATP Tour Finals crown remaining season, 3 Masters titles and reached No. 1 in ratings.
It would possibly have taken some time for them to harvest the rewards of arduous paintings, however the trophies appear to be coming their means one after any other now.
And the luck has been made all of the extra stress-free, particularly for Ram who’s the older of the 2, because it has come once they had given up their singles careers, even supposing for totally other causes.
“For me, it was a physical thing, really. My body couldn’t handle the rigors 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, mentioned in an interview with ToI on the Tata Open Maharashtra right 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, needed to surrender his singles desires relatively early on as he needed to handle a situation referred to as mononucleosis, which significantly disrupted his junior profession.
“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,” mentioned the World No. 4.
The different not unusual thread of their profession is coming from a rustic wealthy in tennis historical past and, due to this fact, dwelling up to a few expectation.
Ram was once actually nicknamed ‘Rampras’ for the resemblance his provider movement had with the nice 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,” mentioned the Indian-origin American.
Salisbury mentioned the age distinction between the 2 didn’t topic as each had the precise “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 local mentioned.
“We have a similar mentality, and quite similar personalities as well, in a lot of ways. And we have a good attitude toward 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 technology the place partnerships do not remaining lengthy, Ram mentioned the important thing to doubles luck was once discovering answers as a staff moderately than as a person.
“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 mentioned, “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 recommendation to other people which might be looking to make it or arise within the doubles ranks is … do not fret such a lot in regards to the tennis aspect 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 remaining season, 3 Masters titles and reached No. 1 in ratings.
It would possibly have taken some time for them to harvest the rewards of arduous paintings, however the trophies appear to be coming their means one after any other now.
And the luck has been made all of the extra stress-free, particularly for Ram who’s the older of the 2, because it has come once they had given up their singles careers, even supposing for totally other causes.
“For me, it was a physical thing, really. My body couldn’t handle the rigors 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, mentioned in an interview with ToI on the Tata Open Maharashtra right 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, needed to surrender his singles desires relatively early on as he needed to handle a situation referred to as mononucleosis, which significantly disrupted his junior profession.
“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,” mentioned the World No. 4.
The different not unusual thread of their profession is coming from a rustic wealthy in tennis historical past and, due to this fact, dwelling up to a few expectation.
Ram was once actually nicknamed ‘Rampras’ for the resemblance his provider movement had with the nice 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,” mentioned the Indian-origin American.
Salisbury mentioned the age distinction between the 2 didn’t topic as each had the precise “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 local mentioned.
“We have a similar mentality, and quite similar personalities as well, in a lot of ways. And we have a good attitude toward 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 technology the place partnerships do not remaining lengthy, Ram mentioned the important thing to doubles luck was once discovering answers as a staff moderately than as a person.
“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 mentioned, “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 recommendation to other people which might be looking to make it or arise within the doubles ranks is … do not fret such a lot in regards to the tennis aspect 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.”