Rajeev Ram became the 2022 ATP Finals doubles champion a few days ago with Joe Salisbury but he was left off of the USA team for the 2022 Davis Cup Finals.
Ram demonstrated his outstanding doubles play throughout the entire season and also at the ATP Finals, where he won alongside Great Britain's Joe Salisbury, beating Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic in the tournament finals.
His ATP Finals triumph was his fourth of the season, previously winning the US Open, Cincinnati Masters, and the Monte-Carlo Masters. However, that seemingly wasn't enough for him to be part of the American team at the Davis Cup Finals.
He played for the Davis Cup team earlier this year and did very well, teaming up with Jack Sock to win two matches against Great Britain and Netherlands, so he was hoping for a call-up, but it never came.
“I put in a lot of hard work this year to help the team get there. I felt like I had earned the spot."
For Ram, seeing the nomination that he was not part of was kind of a cold shower, because he expected to be part of the team, especially after ending the year as the third highest-ranked doubles player in the world.
On top of that, the American team elected to select only four of the possible five players, as Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul, and Jack Sock, whom Ram played with for the country earlier this year, were all selected.
"I was quite surprised when I was not picked, and even more surprised to be honest that they only went with four players instead of five. That was the choice. I was hoping to be on the team."
Yet, even despite this interesting decision by team captain Mardy Fish, the US team should be considered as one of the favourites at the event.
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