Joe Salisbury exclusive: A triumph for perseverance
Joe Salisbury did not even have a world ranking as a junior, but at the start of 2020 the Londoner became a Grand Slam champion. He talked to Paul Newman
When Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams were teenagers, you would not have needed a crystal ball to predict their Grand Slam triumphs in years to come. For some future champions, however, it would take remarkable insight to identify such potential.
Joe Salisbury, who won last yearâs Australian Open menâs doubles title alongside Rajeev Ram, would have fallen into the latter category. As a teenager, the now 28-year-old Londonerâs tennis development was so hampered by glandular fever and injuries that he was never ranked on the International Tennis Federationâs junior circuit. Until he played college tennis at the University of Memphis, he had barely made a mark on the sport.
As a singles player Salisbury never reached the worldâs top 500 and never played in the main draw of a Challenger tournament. The economics graduate was always a better doubles player, but even after he switched his focus from singles he had to rely on his parentsâ continuing financial support to keep playing. He did not win his first title on the main tour until 2018, but after teaming up with Ram at the end of that year, steady improvement led to a first appearance in the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals in 2019 before last yearâs breakthrough at the Australian Open.
Although it was true that the draw opened up for Salisbury and Ram in Melbourne â they faced only one other seeded pair, the No 6 seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos, and met the wild cards Max Purcell and Luke Saville in the final – the emphatic manner of their victories left no doubt that they deserved the title. They dropped only one set, to Alexander Bublik and Mikhail Kukushkin in the semi-finals.
The subsequent tennis shutdown because of the coronavirus pandemic was unfortunate for a team eager to build on their success, but Salisbury insisted: âI donât think it was great timing for anyone. Obviously just after we had won it would have been good to carry that momentum into the upcoming tournaments, but there were definitely a lot of people worse off than us.â
âWe get on well on and off the court. We communicate well. We talk about any issues we have.
He added: âI actually enjoyed having a lot of time at home. It was also nice to get out of the same travelling routine that weâre used to. Obviously it wasnât ideal staying at home locked up for that long â it had its tough moments â but I didnât mind it too much.â
When tournaments resumed in late summer, Salisbury and Ram proved their Melbourne triumph was no flash in the pan by reaching the semi-finals at the US Open (where 36-year-old Ram was playing for the 20th year in a row) and the quarter-finals at Roland Garros.
Being a Grand Slam champion has not weighed heavily on Salisburyâs shoulders. âI think it brings a bit more confidence and maybe a little bit more respect from other players,â he told tennishead when asked if the Melbourne triumph had changed his life at all. âI guess weâre now maybe more one of the teams to beat at some of the tournaments. But apart from that, we just go on as we were before.â
Salisburyâs initial plan after winning Down Under was to buy a property in London, but that is on hold. âI was having a look and I was close to getting somewhere, but I decided to wait until the end of the year and see what happened, because nobody could be sure whether the tournaments were going to come back and whether I might not be earning money for a long time,â he said. âSo itâs still on the to-do list.â
The partnership with Ram, who until this year had never reached a final in 57 previous appearances in menâs doubles at Grand Slam tournaments, clearly proved a turning point for both men. They joined forces when Salisbury was ranked nine places lower than Ram at No 30.
âHe doesn’t show it outwardly, but heâs incredibly competitive, especially on the tennis court,â
âHe was at the top of my list of guys that I wanted to discuss potentially playing with,â Salisbury recalled. âHe serves well, returns well, hits well from the back. He was a good singles player who got to the top 60 in singles. I didnât feel like there were any weaknesses in his game. I just felt he was the best all-round player.â
Ram has a similarly high opinion of Salisbury. âHe doesn’t show it outwardly, but heâs incredibly competitive, especially on the tennis court,â the American said. âHis ability to rise to the occasion is pretty special. Obviously heâs an incredible athlete, too. I think those two things for me stick out. One thing thatâs helped us is weâve become really good partners to each other. I think when weâre nervous in tough situations, weâre not afraid to say what we think. Thereâs a bit of trust there.â
Salisbury added: âWe get on well on and off the court. We communicate well. We talk about any issues we have. Weâre very open about things. It definitely helps that we get on well. We like spending time with each other off the court, because we have to do that a lot with all the travelling we do and playing tournaments together. Iâve definitely had partnerships in the past where maybe we didnât get on so well with each other and that could affect things on the court.â
The Londonerâs story is one to give encouragement to many players who make little impact on the game before their mid-twenties. Â âI guess it shows that even if youâre not one of the top juniors winning all the junior Grand Slams or breaking through when youâre 19 or 20, you can still have a very good career,â he said.
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