Tennis: Rajeev Ram will represent Carmel at Paris Olympics

The REPORTER

Carmel tennis star Rajeev Ram is heading back to the Olympics.

The six-time Grand Slam champion is one of 11 players that will represent the United States on the U.S. Olympic Tennis Team for the Paris 2024 games. Ram will pair with Austin Krajicek to form one of the two men’s doubles teams for the U.S. at the Olympics.

Ram is currently ranked No. 6 in the world in doubles, while Krajicek is ranked 15^th. The men’s team also includes world singles No. 12 Taylor Fritz, No. 13 Tommy Paul, No. 44 Chris Eubanks and No. 53 Marcos Giron. Coached by 2012 Olympic doubles gold medalist and Davis Cup captain Bob Bryan, the U.S. men’s team will also feature four singles players (Fritz, Paul, Eubanks and Giron), while Fritz and Paul will play doubles together.

The women’s team includes singles world No. 2 Coco Gauff, No. 5 Jessica Pegula, No. 11 Danielle Collins, No. 17 Emma Navarro, and doubles No. 11 Desirae Krawczyk. Coached by USTA Head of Women’s Tennis Kathy Rinaldi, the U.S. women’s team will feature four singles players in Paris (Gauff, Pegula, Collins and Navarro) and two doubles teams: Gauff and Pegula, Collins and Krawczyk.

The U.S. will also announce its one mixed doubles team that will compete in Paris, taken from the above-named players, at a later date.

Team nominations are subject to approval by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee and the International Tennis Federation. The United States Paralympic tennis team will be announced in late July.

The 2024 Olympic Games will be held from July 26 to Aug. 11 in Paris, with the tennis competition staged from July 27 to Aug. 4 at Roland Garros. The U.S. has won 24 Olympic medals (14 gold) in men’s and women’s tennis since it returned as a full medal sport in 1988, more than any other nation.

Ram, a mixed doubles silver medalist in 2016 in Rio, will compete in his third consecutive Olympics. Competing in their second Games are 2021 Tokyo Olympians Pegula, Paul, Giron and Krajicek, while Gauff–who was named to compete in 2021 in Tokyo but did not compete after testing positive for COVID-19–Collins, Navarro, Krawczyk, Fritz and Eubanks will make their Olympic debuts.

Ram,40, will be competing in his third consecutive Olympics, having competed in Tokyo 2021 and earning the mixed doubles silver medal with Venus Williams in Rio 2016. A former doubles world No. 1, Ram has won four major men’s doubles titles – the Australian Open in 2020 and the US Open in each of the last three years.

In addition, Ram won two Australian Open mixed doubles titles, in 2019 and 2021. He’s won 31 overall career ATP doubles titles, including the year-end ATP Tour Finals each of the last two years. He led the University of Illinois to a 32-0 season and NCAA team title in 2003 in his one season of college tennis, also winning the NCAA doubles title.

Eligible singles players have the opportunity to accept or decline the nomination to the 2024 Olympic tennis team. If a tennis player declines, the next highest-ranked American singles tennis player has the nomination extended to them.

Tennis was part of the Olympic program from the first modern Olympiad in 1896 until 1924.  After a 64-year hiatus, tennis returned to the official Olympic program in 1988, becoming the first sport to feature professional athletes.