Ram goes Behind the Racquet to share family loss

Noah Rubin's Behind the Racquet initiative continues to lead ATP and WTA pros to share more of their inner thoughts and feelings, revealing layered personalities and experiences that truly flesh out these elite players.

In a post put together months earlier, two-time Grand Slam winner Rajeev Ram shares for the first time publicly and at length about the passing of his father, Raghav Ram, after a fight with pancreatic cancer.

By Raj's own telling, Raghav would relish in the first of two major triumphs by his son, his only child, that in 2019 Australian Open mixed doubles with Barbora Krejcikova. He would not be able to see the second one, Raj's Aussie Open men's doubles title earlier this year alongside Joe Salisbury.

"Now I am motivated because everything I do is in his memory," Raj wrote for Behind the Racquet. Read Raj's full story on Behind the Racquet's social media accounts, and for subscribers, on the BtR website.

In 2018, Raghav joined his son to talk about parenting young, promising athletes, in a video published to the USTA Midwest YouTube channel:

Ram fans can chase that story with another new one featuring the 2003 NCAA champion, in which he speaks with his alma mater's student media source of record, the Daily Illini, about playing pro tennis in the era of COVID-19.

Full disclosure: The author serves on the board of directors for EntouRaj for Kids, Rajeev Ram's nonprofit organization.