Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury accomplished their US Open trifecta in September, capturing the title at Flushing Meadows for a 3rd consecutive yr. Now the American-British duo units their sights on one other coveted title protection: the Nitto ATP Finals.
Ram and Salisbury have discovered their kind with a late-season surge, claiming the title in two of their previous three occasions. Maybe no higher reminiscence than in New York, the place they captured their fourth main group trophy.
“We have had nice success there and we have finished effectively. I do not assume you’ll be able to ever simply assume that you will win a significant,” Ram instructed Chris Bowers on the ATP Podcast. “However we appear to play our greatest there for positive. For no matter cause, I feel a whole lot of issues swimsuit our recreation [there] and as tennis gamers, we are likely to do effectively at locations we have finished effectively earlier than.
“I do assume it is a fairly substantial achievement that we have been in a position to win it thrice in a row simply because even should you do effectively in play, one thing has to go your approach. And so for that to occur three years in a row was fairly particular for us.”
Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram are topped champions on the 2023 US Open.” />
Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram are topped champions on the 2023 US Open. Credit score: Al Bello/Getty Photographs
Regardless of an uncharacteristically sluggish begin to the season, Ram and Salisbury have certified for the Nitto ATP Finals for a fifth consecutive yr. A second consecutive title in Turin can be the very best method to shut the yr for Ram and Salisbury.
“It is powerful to say it isn’t been a great yr once we’ve received a Grand Slam. Had we not received the US Open, it could have been a really poor yr by our requirements,” Salisbury stated. “However the truth that we did that, we all the time say that we need to do the perfect on the largest tournaments and we managed to win one of many Grand Slams, in order that’s clearly an enormous achievement.
“Our goal is to be the primary group. That is sort of the requirements that we need to set ourselves and measure ourselves towards. We’re clearly fairly a great distance off that this yr. Clearly that is fairly excessive requirements to have. However that is the place we need to be.”
Boasting a 12-5 document collectively on the year-end occasion, the duo has received 9 of the previous 10 matches in Turin. Their first look led to a round-robin exit. Since then, they’ve progressed one step additional annually: semi-finals in 2020, runners-up in 2021 and champions a yr in the past. A sixth journey to the Nitto ATP Finals will solely add to the listing of the reminiscences the duo cherishes from the occasion.
“I feel qualifying my first time simply because it felt prefer it’s such an enormous achievement,” Ram stated. “To be there with the highest eight singles guys, it is only a totally different really feel. It is a smaller group of individuals, they do actually make an effort to make you are feeling particular, which is very nice. Then final yr profitable it, we went undefeated. We received shut the yr earlier than, we have been undefeated till the ultimate, however to win it and particularly to go undefeated is admittedly particular.”
Salisbury added, “I feel the primary time we certified was a reasonably superb expertise. It was the primary full yr that I used to be enjoying with Rajeev. I do not assume we certified till the Paris Masters, which was fairly superb. Simply to be there on that stage enjoying on the O2 Area [in London] was unimaginable. We’ve finished higher annually that we performed it up till profitable it final yr. In order that was an unimaginable method to end the season and among the best matches we performed in that ultimate as effectively. It’s a actually particular match.”
