Carmel's Ram Lights Up L.A.'s Pro Tennis Event

It may not be the London Olympics, but it will more than do.

Carmel’s Rajeev Ram has a banner summer going on the professional men’s tennis tour. Fresh off of a semifinal showing in Newport, Rhode Island—at the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Championships on grass courts—he turned in another semifinal performance in the Farmers Classic, Los Angeles’ ATP World Tour event. After topping No. 3 seed Leonardo Mayer of Argentina by the score of 7-6, 6-3, Ram lost by that same score transposed to eventual champ Sam Querrey, whom he beat for the Newport grass tournament title in 2009.

That’s two semifinals in three weeks’ time for Ram, two of the three in his pro singles career to date. He’s ranked No. 93 in the world as of today’s new ATP rankings, with Querrey up to No. 38 and Mayer at No. 63. Ram’s ranking leaps 24 spots, the most of any man nestled in the Top 100.

“It just didn’t happen overnight,” Ram says, per AP. “I kind of re-evaluated my tennis. Not like, ‘Do I want to keep playing?’ but just how I was going about it and trying to make improvements. I felt like I was giving too many points away, both mentally and by going for too much, and [needed] just to find a way to make more guys beat me. If a guy beats me by hitting more winners, then he beats me.”

Ram is engaged in off-court battles lately as well, notably with transportation workers:

My driver here at the LA Open just asked me if my name was of Dutch origin…hmmmmm

— Rajeev Ram (@RajeevRam) July 23, 2012

Considerably worse was his airport experience in Philadelphia a few days earlier:

The airport employees in Philly never fail to unimpress me with their rudeness

— Rajeev Ram (@RajeevRam) July 15, 2012

Photo via Rajeev Ram’s Facebook page