Carmel's Rajeev Ram to play for gold medal in doubles tennis at Paris: 'Give it our all.'
PARIS – Rajeev Ram has advanced as far as the quarterfinals of the French Open in his tennis career five times, including this year. Now he gets to play for a championship at Roland Garros.
The U.S. team of Ram and Austin Krajicek won a doubles semifinal Thursday on Court Simonne Mathieu at the Paris Olympics and will play for the gold medal.
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The fourth-seeded Americans beat Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-2 in a match lasting just 61 minutes.
They will go for the gold at 6 a.m. Saturday (Indianapolis time).
The other semifinal will be Friday, matching Australia’s Matthew Ebden/John Peers against the third-seeded U.S. team of Taylor Fritz/Tommy Paul.
Fritz and Paul defeated Great Britain's Daniel Evans and Andy Murray 6-2, 6-4 in a quarterfinal Thursday. If Fritz and Paul win, it will be an all-USA doubles final.
Ram, 40, of Carmel, will be guaranteed a second Olympic medal. He won a silver with Venus Williams in mixed doubles at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
“It was one of the toughest losses I took,” Ram said. “You play for that gold medal, and when it’s so close, you don’t have it. Also, you never know if you get a chance again. I’m pretty happy that I have that opportunity, and we’re absolutely going to give it our all.”
Krajicek, 34, has also endured disappointment at an Olympics. He and Tennys Sandgren lost in the bronze-medal doubles match at Tokyo in 2021.
Ram said having played on the Olympic stage before should help this doubles team. He and Krajicek began talking about the Paris Olympics a year ago. Winning the gold is a “big goal for us,” Ram said.
“It’s not a regular tournament. It happens once every four years,” he said. “So I think the experience of doing it once will help.
“But at the end of the day, you’ve still got to go out, take care of your stuff, and do the best you can.”
Ram and Krajicek reached the semifinals by winning a quarterfinal 6-4, 6-2 over Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal on Wednesday. Nadal hinted afterward that it might be the final match of his career.
The crowd was vocal in support of the two Spanish superstars.
“Quick turnaround last night, not always easy to play on a big court like that, an emotional win, and come back and play great the next day,” Krajicek said.
Krajicek has been ranked No. 1 in the world in doubles, most recently in March, for a total of 26 weeks.
Ram has won four Grand Slam doubles titles, including the past three U.S. Opens. Back in 1999, as a sophomore, he won a state title for Carmel High School. He was an NCAA doubles champion as a University of Illinois freshman.
Contact IndyStar correspondent David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Paris Olympics: Rajeev Ram to play for gold medal in doubles tennis
