Former doubles world No.1, Rajeev Ram closed the book on a 22-year professional career this week, announcing his retirement in an emotional social media post that traced the arc of his life in tennis, from a game he never expected would become his life’s work to the people who carried him through it. “All good things must come to an end,” he wrote, thanking those who had supported him and closing with a message to his late father, telling him he hoped he had made him proud. The tributes followed quickly. 

The world No. 3, Jessica Pegula, and Ram have shared the court once at the 2024 United Cup as a mixed doubles team, a tie which they lost but left a lasting impact. 

“Congrats on an amazing career Raj!” she wrote on X. “I’m glad we got to play together at least once,” Pegula wrote.

After that, former world No.1 Boris Becker acknowledged the doubles specialist’s career, who was an idol for Ram. 

“Well said Rajeev,” Becker wrote on his retirement message.

The six-time doubles Grand Slam champion had posted a photo in his retirement post where he and his dad are wearing matching Puma shirts, and that had direct significance to the German tennis player. 

“Those Puma shirts we wore were because of you,” he wrote back to Becker, a nod to the German’s own long association with the brand. “Thanks for being an inspiration for me to pick up a racquet.”

“Appreciated my friend! Now enjoy the second half of your life!” Becker wrote back to Ram. 

Ram’s retirement came days after his final match, a straight-sets semifinal loss at this year’s US Open alongside longtime partner Joe Salisbury, fittingly played at Louis Armstrong Stadium, the court Ram has said he watched more matches on than any other growing up. After the match, while speaking to the crowd, he admitted that he had never expected to play this long in his career. 

“I thought I’d be lucky to make it to 30,” he said. “To still have played this year and played at a decent level is wild to me.” Just a few days later, his partner Salisbury, a six-time Grand Slam champion himself, also retired – putting an end to one of the most prolific doubles teams in the sport.

A glorious doubles career

The résumé Ram leaves behind ranks him among the best doubles players of his generation. Along with Salisbury, he won four men’s doubles majors, including an unbroken three-peat at the US Open from 2021 to 2023, and two mixed doubles titles at the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021 with Barbora Krejcikova. The peak came in 2022, when he reached the world No. 1 spot in doubles, and he is now finishing his career with 32 ATP titles and two Olympic silver medals – mixed doubles with Venus Williams at Rio 2016 and in men’s doubles at Paris 2024 with Austin Krajicek. 

His mixed doubles career also produced a memorable matchup with his root country’s most decorated tennis player, India’s Sania Mirza, at the 2022 Australian Open. 

The most personal thread running through his farewell, though, was the tribute to his father. Ram’s father, Dr. Raghav Ram, a Kannadiga who emigrated from Bangalore to the United States, passed away in 2019 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.  Although he lived to see his son’s first Grand Slam title at the 2019 Australian Open, but not see his second later that same tournament in 2021. In the past, Ram has talked about how that loss has influenced the rest of his career, describing how he was motivated to take his father’s memory with him on court afterward. 

At 42, Ram walks away from the sport as one of the most decorated doubles players of his era, a journey that took him from India to the top of the world rankings, and finally he hangs up his boots on that one court in New York where it all started.