Montevideo to Jerusalem
A move at five
He was born Andreas Ram in Uruguay. When he was five the family emigrated to Israel and settled in Jerusalem, and that is where he first played tennis.
Source: WikipediaThe 21st century
Andy Ram
Israel · born Montevideo, Uruguay, 1980 · right-handed · the first Israeli to win a Wimbledon title
All playersBack to the rankings
2006
Wimbledon mixed doubles champion with Vera Zvonareva, the first Israeli to win a Wimbledon title
3
Major titles: Wimbledon mixed 2006, French Open mixed 2007, Australian Open men's doubles 2008
2
Wimbledon mixed doubles finals, 2003 and 2006
3
Grass tour titles with Jonathan Erlich: Nottingham 2005 and 2006, Eastbourne 2011
No. 5
Doubles world ranking, reached on 7 July 2008
Playing career
Andy Ram was born Andreas Ram in Montevideo, Uruguay, on 10 April 1980. His family moved to Jerusalem when he was five, and he started playing tennis there. As a junior he reached the 1998 Wimbledon boys' doubles final, and he made his career as a doubles player, most of it with his fellow Israeli Jonathan Erlich.
Ram and Erlich came through qualifying to reach the Wimbledon men's doubles semi-finals in 2003, the year Ram also reached the mixed final with Anastasia Rodionova. In 2006 he won the Wimbledon mixed doubles with the Russian Vera Zvonareva, and in 2007 the French Open mixed with Nathalie Dechy. In January 2008 he and Erlich won the Australian Open, Israel's first men's doubles major, and he reached No. 5 in the doubles rankings that July.
He was a mainstay of Israel's Davis Cup team, which reached the World Group semi-finals in 2009, and he played at the Olympics in 2004, 2008 and 2012. He announced in May 2014 that he would retire after Israel's Davis Cup tie that September, and in 2015 he launched a start-up making a wearable device for amateur players.
On grass
| Wimbledon mixed finals | 2003 with Anastasia Rodionova, unseeded: lost to Leander Paes and Martina Navratilova 6-3, 6-3. 2006 with Vera Zvonareva, seeded 9: beat Bob Bryan and Venus Williams 6-3, 6-2 in 56 minutes |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon men's doubles | Semi-finals in 2003 with Jonathan Erlich as unseeded qualifiers, after beating the second seeds Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 in the quarter-finals |
| Junior Wimbledon | Lost the 1998 boys' doubles final with Michaël Llodra to Roger Federer and Olivier Rochus 6-4, 6-4 |
| Grass tour finals with Erlich | Nottingham 2005: won 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. Nottingham 2006: won 6-3, 6-2. Eastbourne 2011: beat Grigor Dimitrov and Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-3, in a final moved to Roehampton because of rain |
Every grass title: 4
Show every title, tournament by tournament
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Mixed doubles | with Vera Zvonareva |
| Nottingham | ||
| 2005 | Men's doubles | with Jonathan Erlich |
| 2006 | Men's doubles | with Jonathan Erlich |
| Eastbourne | ||
| 2011 | Men's doubles | with Jonathan Erlich |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"I may have lost my match, but sports won."
Anecdotes
The person behind the player.
Wimbledon, 1998
A final against Federer
His first Wimbledon final came as a junior, in the 1998 boys' doubles with the Frenchman Michaël Llodra. Seeded fourth, they lost 6-4, 6-4 to the unseeded Roger Federer and Olivier Rochus.
Source: Wimbledon Compendium 2025Dubai, February 2009
Armed guards at the airport
A week after the United Arab Emirates refused a visa to Shahar Pe'er, its foreign ministry gave Ram special permission to play the Dubai men's event. Armed guards met him at the airport, and during his doubles match spectators were searched and kept to one end of the court. He lost, and said: "I was trying to do something big and to put sport above politics."
Source: Radio New Zealand; Newser (AP)Malmö, March 2009
No crowd
For Israel's Davis Cup tie in Sweden, local officials barred spectators from the Baltic Hall, citing security, while police faced thousands of protesters outside. "I think it was a wrong decision," Ram said, and added that it would be very bad to play without a crowd. Israel won 3-2 to reach the quarter-finals for the first time since 1987, and Ram said the protests had only increased the team's motivation.
Source: The Jewish Chronicle; Tennis.comEastbourne, 2011
A final in Roehampton
Rain washed out the Eastbourne doubles final and the organisers first abandoned it. Both pairs then agreed to play it at Roehampton, the Wimbledon qualifying venue, where Ram and Erlich beat Grigor Dimitrov and Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-3 for their first title together in more than three years. "It has been a long time since we won a title together, so we are really happy and excited," Ram said.
Source: Jerusalem PostJoin Grass Tennis Club
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Where they won on grass
- All England Club, Wimbledon
- Nottingham
- Devonshire Park, Eastbourne (2011 final played at Roehampton)
- Find a grass court near you
Rivals and partners
On Grass Tennis Club
Elsewhere online
Sources
- Wimbledon Compendium 2025 (AELTC)
- Andy Ram, Wikipedia
- "Ram, Erlich take Eastbourne in impromptu final", Jerusalem Post, 2011
- "Ram returns from Dubai with mission accomplished", Jerusalem Post, 2009
- "Israeli tennis player given visa for Dubai", Radio New Zealand, 2009
- "Under tight security, Israeli makes Dubai tennis debut", Newser, 2009
- "Ram slams decision", The Jewish Chronicle, 2009
- "Israel looks to build on upset over Sweden", Tennis.com, 2009
- GTC roll of grass champions, checked against a second source where one exists
Page updated 4 November 2026. Spotted an error? Send a correction.
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