After two weeks of play from the 2022 US Open, three former collegiate alum will leave Flushing Meadows as Grand Slam Champions with Rajeev Ram (Illinois) and Joe Salisbury (Memphis) winning the Men’s Doubles Title, while John Peers (MTSU/Baylor) and partner Storm Sanders took home the Mixed Doubles Title.
Entering the US Open, 11 former collegiate student-athletes had already reached Grand Slam Finals, including Wimbledon Mixed Doubles champions Desirae Krawczyk (Arizona State) and Neal Skupski (LSU), French Open Men’s Doubles champions Marcelo Arevalo (Tulsa) and Jean-Julien Rojer (UCLA), and French Open Mixed Doubles champion Ena Shibahara (UCLA).
Across all Grand Slams in 2022, 15 collegiate alum reached Grand Slam Finals in Singles, Doubles, and Mixed Doubles, while eight were crowned Grand Slam Champions over the four Slams.
In Men’s Doubles at the US Open, Ram and Salisbury took home their second consecutive title after they took down Neal Skupski (LSU) and Wesley Koolhof in the Men’s Doubles Championship Match.
Jumping ahead early after taking the first set 7-6 (4), Ram and Salisbury carried their momentum into the second set where they were finally able to break the serve of Skupski and Koolhof to go ahead 6-5 late in the second before closing out the match on serve to win the Title.
With the win, Ram and Salisbury become the first repeat US Open Men’s Doubles Champions since 1995-96 as they now hold three Grand Slam Titles as a pairing in addition to their eight ATP Tour Titles which have all been won since 2019.
In Mixed Doubles, Peers and Sanders took home their first Grand Slam Title as a pair after they take down Kirsten Flipkens and Édouard Roger-Vasselin in the Championship Match.
After falling in the first set 4-6, Peers and Sanders fought back in set two to force a decisive tiebreaker which would determine the champions. Starting the tiebreak with two early breaks, Peers and Sanders took a quick 3-0 lead, before trading points the rest of the way en route to the 10-7 tiebreak victory.
For Peers, this Title marks his second career Grand Slam Title and the first since 2015 for the Australian native. This US Open Mixed Doubles Title offers a crescendo to the outstanding doubles career which Peers has achieved since turning pro in 2011, as the former collegiate standout has won 26 ATP Tour Doubles Titles over his career.
