Andy Ram: Difference between revisions

Andy Ram

Country (sports)	Israel
Residence	Jerusalem
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro	1998
Plays	Right-handed; one-handed backhand
Prize money	US$1,909,655
Singles
Career record	4–11
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 187 (14 August 2000)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	DNP
French Open	DNP
Wimbledon	1st (2004)
US Open	DNP
Doubles
Career record	226–140
Career titles	16
Highest ranking	No. 5 (7 July 2008)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	W (2008)
French Open	3rd (2004, 2007)
Wimbledon	SF (2003)
US Open	QF (2005)
Other doubles tournaments
Tour Finals	RR (2006, 2007)
Olympic Games	QF (2004)
Mixed doubles
Career titles	2
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian Open	F (2009)
French Open	W (2007)
Wimbledon	W (2006)
Last updated on: April 6, 2009.

Andy Ram ([אנדי רם] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help), born April 10, 1980) is a professional right-handed tennis player from Israel, and the first Israeli tennis player to win a seniors Grand Slam event (mixed doubles title at 2006 Wimbledon Championships together with Vera Zvonareva).

He attained his highest doubles ranking through July 2007, # 9, on May 15, 2006. He reached 28 doubles finals and won 15 of them through 2008, mostly with partner Jonathan Erlich with whom they are known in Israel as AndiYoni.

Ram, born in Montevideo, Uruguay, is Jewish.^[1][2][3] His mother is Uruguayan and his father, a former professional soccer player, is Israeli. He has an older brother and younger sister. They moved to Israel when he was 5, which is when he began playing tennis.^[4] Ram trained by Ronen Moralli at the Israel Tennis Centers and Wingate Institute.^[5] It was at Wingate that he first met Jonathan Erlich, his future doubles partner. He became a professional tennis player in 1996 at the age of 16, but did not compete in a Grand Slam tournament until 2001.^[6]

In September 2006, Ram married Shiri, his girlfriend for 10 years.

Ram is known as a fan of the soccer team Beitar Jerusalem.

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

In 2003 Ram won the doubles title at the RCA Championship with Croatian Mario Ančić.

With partner Jonathan Erlich, his groundbreaking achievement was their reaching the semifinals of the Wimbledon championships in 2003 as unknown qualifiers. They defeated three seeded opponents en route to the semifinals. In the quarterfinals, in a match in which neither side broke service, Ram and Erlich defeated No. 2 seeded Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor in straight sets: 7–6 (10-8), 7–6 (7–2), 7–6 (9–7). In the semi's, Ram and Erlich - the first Israelis to ever advance to the semifinals in any Grand Slam event - lost to the defending Wimbledon champions, Jonas Björkman and Todd Woodbridge.

Ram reached the 2003 Wimbledon mixed doubles final with Anastassia Rodionova of Russia. The couple lost to tennis legend Martina Navratilova and Leander Paes.

Ram and Jonathan Erlich then won the Thailand Open in September and the Lyon tournament in October 2003. They also won first place in Indianapolis, Istanbul, India, Rotterdam, and Milan.

Ram teamed competed in the mixed doubles event at the 2004 Roland Garros with partner Petra Mandula of Hungary, and made it as far as the quarterfinals where they lost to Daniela Hantuchová and doubles ace Todd Woodbridge.

Ram and Erlich were triumphant yet again in the Lyon International Series tournament in October 2004. They defeated Jonas Björkman and Radek Štěpánek in the final with a 7–6(2), 6–2 victory.

In the 2005 Australian Open Ram paired up with Conchita Martínez of Spain in the mixed doubles event. Martinez and Ram pulled off an impressive coup in the quarterfinals, beating top seeds Daniel Nestor and Rennae Stubbs 7–5, 6–7 (3–7), 7–6 (14-12). They fell in the semifinals to Aussie pair Scott Draper and Samantha Stosur 7–5, 6–3.

Ram and Erlich won their fourth major tournament in Rotterdam in February 2005, beating Czechs Cyril Suk and Pavel Vízner for the honors.

Ram and Erlich missed the 2005 Roland Garros grand slam tournament. Ram's father had died as he was preparing to fly to France.

In August 2005, playing singles he defeated world # 56 Ricardo Mello of Brazil, 6–1, 6–4, at the New Haven International.

Ram and Erlich played in the mixed doubles competition in Wimbledon 2005. They faced Kevin Ullyett and Liezel Huber in the quarterfinals, and were eliminated 6–4, 3–6, 8–6.

They reached 8th place in the doubles race ranking at the end of 2005, and served as alternates at the Masters Cup in Shanghai.

He became the first Israeli to win a Grand Slam title in Pro's. He won the 2006 Wimbledon mixed doubles with Vera Zvonareva 6–2, 6–3 against Bob Bryan and Venus Williams. Ram also played with Zvonareva in the 2006 US Open.

In November 2006 he and Erlich defeated the world # 1 ranked Bryan brothers at the Tennis Masters Cup in China, 7–6 (2), 2–6, 6–1.

Ram and Erlich finished 2006 in the top eight, and qualified for the Tennis Masters Cup for the first time.

At the 2007 French Open, Ram, along with his partner, Nathalie Dechy, won the Mixed Doubles competition. Ram and Dechy teamed up together again to compete in the 2007 Wimbledon championships, losing in the third round to 9th-ranked Marcin Matkowski and Cara Black 6–3, 6–4.

At Cincinnati, at the ATP Masters, in August he and Erlich won, upsetting the world # 1 Bryan brothers in the final 4–6, 6–3, 13-11.

At the US Open, he played doubles with Erlich, losing in the round of 16 to the eventual winners Simon Aspelin and Julian Simon, 5–7, 6–7 (4). In mixed doubles with Nathalie Dechy he made it to the quarter finals.

At the 2008 Australian Open Ram and Erlich won the Men's Doubles Championship in straight sets over Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra 7–5, 7–6(4). This was the duo's first Grand Slam win after numerous ATP titles and was also Israel's first ever Grand Slam trophy in Men's Doubles. The duo also won the Masters Series event at Indian Wells, California by defeating the team of Nestor and Zimonic in the finals. After Erlich's injury, Ram was playing with other partners and won indoor titles in Vienna (with Max Mirnyi) and Lyon (with Llodra).

At the 2009 Australian Open Ram and Nathalie Dechy, unseeded at the start of the tournament, defeated two seeded pairs and reached the finals where lost to another unseeded pair, Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupati from India, 3-6, 1-6. Later Ram won Miami Masters tournament with Mirnyi after reaching finals in Indian Wells Masters. Ram has partnered Jonathan Erlich once again at Israel Open ATP Challenger tournament in Ramat Hasharon in May but after losing in the final he announced his decision to keep partnering Mirnyi till the end of 2009 season (with the exception of Davis Cup game against Russia where he will partner Erlich).^[7]

Ram has played on Israel's Davis Cup team in 2001-09, in 2007 winning two matches in Israel's 5–0 win over Luxembourg, and winning his doubles matches in Israel's 3–2 wins over Italy and over Chile (in which he and Erlich defeated Olympic Gold Medal winners Gonzalez and Massu). In 2008, Ram and Erlich won their doubles match against Simon Aspelin and Robert Lindstedt in Israel's 3-2 loss to Sweden in the World group and then Ram partnering Harel Levy defeated the Peruvian duo Echazu/Silva on the way to overall Israel's victory 4-1, granting Israel a place in the World group for the next season. In March 2009, partnering Amir Hadad, Ram lost in Malmo to the same Swedish pair he defeated a year earlier, but the Israeli team won 3-2 overall and proceeded to the World group QF.^[8]

Israel will be represented by Ram, Dudi Sela, Jonathan Erlich, and Harel Levy on indoor hard courts in Tel Aviv when Israel hosts Russia in a quarterfinal Davis Cup match the weekend of July 10-12, 2009.^[9][10] Russia's lineup will be Dmitry Tursunov (22 in the world), Marat Safin ( 24), Igor Andreev (26), and Mikhail Youzhny (44).^[11][12] The last time Israel's Davis Cup team reached the level of one of being one the top eight tennis nations in the world was in 1987.[4]

Erlich and Ram represented Israel at Athens Olympic Games in 2004, and reached the quarterfinals. Ranked 8th overall, in the 1st round they defeated Thomas Enqvist and Robin Söderling of Sweden, 7–5, 6–3, and then beat Russians Igor Andreev and Nikolay Davydenko in the 2nd round, 6–4, 6–1. In the quarterfinals they were defeated by Germans Nicolas Kiefer and Rainer Schüttler in three sets, 6–2, 2–6, 2–6.

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Winner	2008	Australian Open	Hard	Jonathan Erlich	Arnaud Clément Michaël Llodra	7–5, 7–6(4)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	2003	Wimbledon	Grass	Anastasia Rodionova	Martina Navratilova Leander Paes	3–6, 3–6
Winner	2006	Wimbledon	Grass	Vera Zvonareva	Venus Williams Bob Bryan	6–3, 6–2
Winner	2007	French Open	Clay	Nathalie Dechy	Katarina Srebotnik Nenad Zimonjić	7–5, 6–3
Runner-up	2009	Australian Open	Hard	Nathalie Dechy	Sania Mirza Mahesh Bhupathi	3–6, 1–6

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2003	Indianapolis, United States	Mario Ančić	Diego Ayala Robby Ginepri	2–6, 7–6(3), 7–5
2003	Bangkok, Thailand	Jonathan Erlich	Jarkko Nieminen Andrew Kratzmann	6–3, 7–6(4)
2003	Lyon, France	Jonathan Erlich	Nicolas Mahut Julien Benneteau	6–1, 6–3
2004	Lyon, France	Jonathan Erlich	Radek Štěpánek Jonas Björkman	7–6(2), 6–2
2005	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Jonathan Erlich	Cyril Suk Pavel Vízner	6–4, 4–6, 6–3
2005	Nottingham, England	Jonathan Erlich	Simon Aspelin Todd Perry	4–6, 6–3, 7–5
2006	Adelaide, Australia	Jonathan Erlich	Paul Hanley Kevin Ullyett	7–6(4), 7–6(10)
2006	Nottingham, England	Jonathan Erlich	Igor Kunitsyn Dmitry Tursunov	6–3, 6–3
2006	New Haven, USA	Jonathan Erlich	Mariusz Fyrstenberg Marcin Matkowski	6–3, 6–3
2006	Bangkok, Thailand	Jonathan Erlich	Andy Murray Jamie Murray	6–2, 2–6, [10-4]
2007	Cincinnati, USA	Jonathan Erlich	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	4–6, 6–3, [13-11]
2008	Melbourne, Australia	Jonathan Erlich	Arnaud Clément Michaël Llodra	7–5, 7–6(4)
2008	Indian Wells, USA	Jonathan Erlich	Daniel Nestor Nenad Zimonjić	6–4, 6–3
2008	Vienna, Austria	Max Mirnyi	Philipp Petzschner Alexander Peya	6–1, 7–5
2008	Lyon, France	Michaël Llodra	Stephen Huss Ross Hutchins	6–3, 5–7, [10-8]
2009	Miami, USA	Max Mirnyi	Ashley Fisher Stephen Huss	6–7(4), 6–2, [10-7]

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2004	Chennai, India	Jonathan Erlich	Rafael Nadal Tommy Robredo	6–7(3), 6–4, 3–6
2004	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Jonathan Erlich	Paul Hanley Radek Štěpánek	7–5, 6–7(5), 5–7
2005	Los Angeles, United States	Jonathan Erlich	Rick Leach Brian MacPhie	3–6, 4–6
2005	Toronto, Canada	Jonathan Erlich	Wayne Black Kevin Ullyett	7–6(5), 3–6, 0–6
2005	Bangkok, Thailand	Jonathan Erlich	Paul Hanley Leander Paes	6–5(5), 1–6, 2–6
2005	Vienna, Austria	Jonathan Erlich	Mark Knowles Daniel Nestor	3–5, 4–5(2)
2006	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Jonathan Erlich	Paul Hanley Kevin Ullyett	6–7(4), 6–7(2)
2006	Rome AMS, Italy	Jonathan Erlich	Mark Knowles Daniel Nestor	4–6, 7–5, [11-13]
2007	Las Vegas, U.S.	Jonathan Erlich	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	6–7(6), 2–6
2007	Indian Wells AMS	Jonathan Erlich	Martin Damm Leander Paes	4–6, 4–6
2007	Washington, U.S.	Jonathan Erlich	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	6–7(5), 6–3, [7-10]
2008	Cincinnati, U.S.	Jonathan Erlich	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	6–4, 6–7(2), [7-10]
2009	Marseille, France	Julian Knowle	Arnaud Clement Michael Llodra	6–3, 3–6, [8-10]
2009	Indian Wells AMS	Max Mirnyi	Mardy Fish Andy Roddick	6–3, 1–6, [12-14]

• Andy Ram at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Davis Cup record
• Official Website
• Jewish Virtual Library bio
• Jews in Sports bio

Template:Persondata