Past Illini Kevin Anderson and Rajeev Ram had direct entry into the main draw of Wimbledon, but ran into two top ten players in the first round. Ram was unfortunate enough to have the same problem in doubles (Anderson was not entered in a second event).
Ram and partner Eric Butorac were pitted against No. 8 Julian Knowle & Andy Ram. After taking the first set in a 7/3 tiebreaker, Ram & Butorac dropped the next three with a final score of 6-7,6-4,6-4,6-2 for the seeded duo.
Though he never played for the Big Ten, it is impossible to discuss Wimbledon without a shoutout to John Isner, a spectacular representative of college tennis. Isner played for the University of Georgia for four years (2003-07), taking out many Big Ten players on his way to, NCAA Team and doubles titles. After breaking numerous records with a 6-4,3-6,6-7,7-6,70-68 win over Nicholas Mahut that took 11 hours to complete, Isner -- without even a day to recover after the long match -- ran out of steam on Friday and lost to Thiemo De Bakker.
Expect to see Rajeev Ram, Kevin Anderson and at least a few other former Big Ten tennis players at the U.S. Open in August. There will be daily coverage from that event on the Big Ten Tennis Examiner. Until then, look for updates each week on conference news, results and stories on present and past players.
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