RIO DE JANEIRO – The U.S. pair of Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock beat Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram Aug. 14 for the gold medal in the tennis mixed doubles at the ongoing Rio Olympics here. Ram – an Indian-American athlete from Carmel, Indiana – and Williams claimed the silver medal for Team USA, which has garnered 70 medals thus far, beating by a landslide every other country...
in the two-week competitions. Although both pairs broke each other’s serves in the first set, Ram came through at the net during the tiebreak and Mattek-Sands and Sock dominated in the second set, going out to a 5-0 lead but ultimately prevailing, despite conceding one game. The third set resulted in an exciting 10-point match tiebreak, with Mattek-Sands and Sock going out in front 3-0 to start but then temporarily crumbling to 3-6 before battling back to 8-6 and finally widening the lead to the 10-7 result. A day earlier, Ram – born in Denver, Colorado – and Williams polished off India’s Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna on Aug. 13. Mirza and Bopanna won the first set quite comfortably before squandering the lead and going down 6-2, 2-6, 3-10 in one hour and 17 minutes.
Ram and Williams thus went into the final and assured themselves of at least a silver. Mirza and Bopanna lost the bronze medal to Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic on Aug. 14. “I will be the most-hated person in India today,” joked Ram with media, after winning to Mirza/Bopanna, noting that he was a first generation American.
The news site sportskeeda.com reported that Ram actually wanted to represent India in professional tennis but having spent all his life in America, he wasn’t able to get an Indian passport and it was difficult for him to give up his U.S. passport as his parents were living there. This was Ram’s first appearance at the Olympics. The 32-year-old son of Raghav and Sushma Ram, who hail from Bengaluru, has previously advanced to the semi-finals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Ram has also won two ATP singles titles at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in 2009 and again in 2015, and has claimed eight ATP doubles titles in his career, with various partners.
Ram and Williams thus went into the final and assured themselves of at least a silver. Mirza and Bopanna lost the bronze medal to Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic on Aug. 14. “I will be the most-hated person in India today,” joked Ram with media, after winning to Mirza/Bopanna, noting that he was a first generation American.
The news site sportskeeda.com reported that Ram actually wanted to represent India in professional tennis but having spent all his life in America, he wasn’t able to get an Indian passport and it was difficult for him to give up his U.S. passport as his parents were living there. This was Ram’s first appearance at the Olympics. The 32-year-old son of Raghav and Sushma Ram, who hail from Bengaluru, has previously advanced to the semi-finals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Ram has also won two ATP singles titles at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in 2009 and again in 2015, and has claimed eight ATP doubles titles in his career, with various partners.
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