LONDON – Former Illini All-Americans, Kevin Anderson and Rajeev Ram, are set to compete in the main draw of Wimbledon starting on Monday. Known as the oldest and most prestigious tennis tournament in the world, Wimbledon will be held at the prominent All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London. The 2018 Wimbledon singles finalist, Anderson, is looking to make another historical run in his 11th Wimbledon appearance. Coming off of his first Grand Slam win at the 2019 Australian Open, Ram, will be making his 12th showing at Wimbledon.
After a three month break due to a nagging elbow injury, Anderson is making his second Grand Slam appearance of the year and 39th overall after earning an automatic bid based on current world rankings. The South African native is seeking his first win at a Grand Slam and will square off against France's Pierre-Hugues Herbert. The Frenchman has garnered four grand slam wins in doubles play and had his highest singles finish during the third round of the 2016 Wimbledon Championships.
Anderson is the fourth seed in the singles draw and is currently ranked No. 8 in the world after a successful season that is highlighted by a finalist finish at the 2018 Wimbledon Championships and personal-best win at the ATP World Tour 500 Erste Bank Open in Vienna. As part of Team World, he also paired with American Jack Sock to defeat tennis superstars, Novak Djokovic (SRB) / Roger Federer (SUI) during the Laver Cup.
Continuing their doubles tandem for the year, Ram will team up with Britain's Joe Salisbury. The duo has been competing with each other for the past 13 tournaments including a finalist finish at the recent Fever-Tree Championships. The No. 12 seed will face Moldova's Radu Albot and Tunisia's Malek Jaziri in the opening round of the doubles main draw. This marks the third time this year that Albot and Jaziri have paired up, including Grand Slam appearances at the Australian Open and the French Open (Roland-Garros).
Ram is ranked No. 25 in doubles play after appearing in three ATP finals this year, including a win at the Dubai Tennis Championships with Salisbury. After 75 Grand Slam appearances, the Olympic silver medalist clinched his first Grand Slam title during mixed doubles play with partner Barbora Krejcíková (Czech Republic) at the 2019 Australian Open. The Carmel, Ind. residence's best career-ranking came in 2017 when his 35-22 doubles match record and four ATP Tour titles propelled him to No. 11 in the ATP Doubles Rankings.
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