(L-R) Joe Salisbury (Great Britain) and Rajeev Ram celebrate after winning the men's doubles final at the 2022 U.S. Open on Sept. 9, 2022 in New York City.
U.S. Olympian Rajeev Ram partnered up with 2020 Olympian Joe Salisbury of Great Britain to win a repeat doubles championship in New York on Friday, defeating No. 2 seeds Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands and Neal Skupski of Great Britain in the first one vs. two final matchup in men’s doubles since 2005.
Ram and Salisbury emerged with a 7-6, 7-5 victory, making them the first U.S. open repeat champions in men’s doubles in more than 25 years. The last ones to do it were Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, an Australian pair who won 11 grand slam titles together.
“Obviously, if you can kind of emulate them in anything in tennis, it’s pretty good company to keep,” Ram said.
Ram won a silver medal in mixed doubles at the Olympic Games Rio 2016. He has three grand slam titles with Salisbury, beginning at the 2020 Australian Open.
Caty McNally and Taylor Townsend had an exciting run to the U.S. Open women’s doubles final, but they fell just short Sunday in trying to be the first all-American tandem to win the title since 2011.
Entering the tournament unseeded, McNally and Townsend pulled off several upsets to make it to the final. Once there, they lost to No. 3 seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1.
The 20-year-old McNally and 26-year-old Townsend were attempting to become the first Americans to win a women’s doubles title since CoCo Vandeweghe in 2018, and the first all-American partnership to win since Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond in 2011. Townsend was playing in the tournament for the first time since giving birth in 2021.