Grand Stage For Grand Finale

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In his last tournament before re-uniting with longtime partner Jonathan Erlich, Andy Ram will team with Max Mirnyi on one of the biggest stages in tennis.

2009 In Review

Twelve months ago Andy Ram and Max Mirnyi were both in the right place at the right time. Brought together through misfortune, the duo quickly established itself as a top team and continued on to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Andy Ram was inconsolable when his partner of more than seven years, Jonathan Erlich, finally acknowledged his right elbow injury needed medical treatment almost 12 months ago. The Israelis were virtually exclusive and had contested 318 of Ram’s 329 tour-level doubles matches together since their ATP World Tour debut at Queen’s Club in 2001.

Erlich, who had carried the niggling injury through the 2008 summer swing, realised by November that it was time to go under the surgeon’s knife in order to prolong his career. Despite qualifying for the Finals in Shanghai, Erlich and Ram were unable to compete due to Erlich's injury. The plan was to re-unite with Ram in March, but his road back to full fitness took longer than expected.

Enter Max Mirnyi, who had given up playing singles after competing at the Beijing Olympics in August 2008, in order to prolong his doubles career. After winning just two matches in their first four tournaments together, the team then went on a tear, reaching the final of back-to-back ATP World Tour Masters 1000 finals, finishing runner-up in Indian Wells and winning Miami. More recently, the team has reached the Rogers Masters final in Montreal and the semi-finals of the US Open.

Ram will re-unite with Erlich at the beginning of the 2010 season, leaving Mirnyi to look for a new partner.

Finals History

Mirnyi has now qualified for the season finale six times in the past seven years. He won the title with Jonas Bjorkman in 2006 in Shanghai. Ram has qualified the past four years.