Ajeet Rai

Ajeet Rai

Full name	Ajeet Rai
Country (sports)	New Zealand
Residence	New Plymouth, New Zealand
Born	(1999-01-18) 18 January 1999 (age 23) New Plymouth
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Coach	Rakesh Rai
Prize money	$290,000
Singles
Career record	1–2 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	1 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 694 (19 November 2018)
Current ranking	No. 850 (15 November 2021)
Doubles
Career record	1–2 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	7 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 458 (15 November 2021)
Current ranking	No. 458 (15 November 2021)
Team competitions
Davis Cup	2–1 (singles 1-1, doubles 1-0)
Last updated on: 17 November 2021.

Ajeet Shankar Rai (born 18 January 1999) is a New Zealand professional tennis player.

Rai has a career-high ATP singles ranking of 694, achieved on 19 November 2018, and a best doubles ranking of 458, reached on 15 November 2021.

Tennis career[]

2018[]

Rai's first experience of professional tennis was being given a wildcard into qualifying for the Auckland Open, where he was beaten by Taro Daniel in the first round. He played his first senior ITF tournament in Kampala, Uganda, in May, qualifying for the main draw in singles, where he reached the second round. The following week, at the same venue, he was given a wildcard into both doubles and the main draw for singles, and reached the quarterfinals of both.

He reached his first doubles semifinal in China in July, but the highlight of his year to that date would come in September, when he made his Davis Cup debut for New Zealand, partnering Artem Sitak to win their doubles rubber against South Korea, giving Rai a perfect start to his senior international representative career. His first ITF doubles final came in Hua Hin, Thailand, in October, where he and Karunuday Singh lost in a match tie-break to the top seeds, Francis Casey Alcantara and Sonchat Ratiwatana. In singles at the same tournament, he progressed past the quarterfinals for the first time, going all the way to take the title over Manish Sureshkumar in three sets. His season finished with a couple of quarterfinal losses in Futures events in Tây Ninh, Vietnam.

2019[]

Again given a wildcard into qualifying in Auckland, Rai was a game away from defeating Roberto Marcora in the first round before eventually losing in three sets. He and New Zealand junior champion George Stoupe were given a wild card into the doubles, where they lost in the first round to Artem Sitak and Austin Krajicek.

In Uganda on the anniversary of his ITF debut, Rai injured his back severely enough in his second event to need three months' rehabilitation before he returned to the tour in South-East Asia. Well-beaten in his first match, he steadily improved through a series of tournaments to reach another doubles final in Hua Hin in August. By the worst possible luck, his partner, former dual Australian Open junior doubles winner Bradley Mousley, injured his knee in his singles semifinal earlier in the day and had to retire from that match. He played the doubles final, but with very restricted movement the pair were easily beaten by the top-seeded Ratiwatana twins from the host country.

Rai reached two more ITF doubles finals before the end of the year, in Hua Hin two weeks later and in Cancún, Mexico, in late November, finishing runner-up on each occasion.

2020[]

With the ITF Circuit returning to New Zealand for the first time in several years, Rai's first event for 2020 was at the new tournament in Te Anau, where he lost in the quarter-finals of both singles and doubles. At the ASB Classic in Auckland, Rai received a wildcard into both the singles qualifying rounds and the doubles, losing his first match in both. The doubles defeat, however, came at the hands of the eventual champions, Luke Bambridge and Ben McLachlan, and Rai and partner Mackenzie McDonald played extremely well.

Rai's next stop after Auckland was Cancún, where he played three tournaments in as many weeks. The second was the most productive, reaching the quarterfinals in singles and finally securing a doubles title, in his fifth final. Rai then returned home for New Zealand's Davis Cup tie against Venezuela in Auckland, where he lost in singles to Luis David Martínez in three sets. He didn't play again before the international tour was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and his only subsequent events were domestic tournaments such as the New Zealand Premier League, Wellington Open/New Zealand Championships (where he finished runner-up) and the Te Anau Invitational.

2021[]

Rai resumed his international career in June, playing a series of ITF tournaments in Monastir over the next couple of months. He reached several doubles finals but, frustratingly, it took five attempts before he was able to win another title. Apart from a brief trip to Spain to renew his visa, he stayed in Monastir until November, eventually winning six doubles titles from 11 finals before returning to New Zealand.

ITF Circuit finals[]

Singles: 1 (1 title)[]

Result	No.	Date	Level	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1.	13 October 2018	15,000	Hua Hin, Thailand	Hard		6–3, 4–6, 6–4

Doubles: 16 (7 titles, 9 runner-ups)[]

Result	No.	Date	Level	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1.	12 October 2018	15,000	Hua Hin, Thailand	Hard		Francis Casey Alcantara Sonchat Ratiwatana	1–6, 6–1, [6–10]
Loss	2.	24 August 2019	M15	Hua Hin, Thailand	Hard	Bradley Mousley	Sanchai Ratiwatana Sonchat Ratiwatana	2–6, 0–6
Loss	3.	7 September 2019	M15	Hua Hin, Thailand	Hard		Kelsey Stevenson	6–7(4–7), 2–6
Loss	4.	23 November 2019	M15	Cancún, Mexico	Hard		Skyler Butts	5–7, 5–7
Win	1.	1 February 2020	M15	Cancún, Mexico	Hard	Simon Carr	Brandon Walkin	6–4, 6–2
Loss	5.	29 May 2021	M15	Monastir, Tunisia	Hard	Siddhant Banthia	Jeremy Beale Thomas Fancutt	4–6, 4–6
Loss	6.	12 June 2021	M15	Monastir, Tunisia	Hard	Jeremy Beale	Siddhant Banthia Park Ui-sung	w/o
Loss	7.	26 June 2021	M15	Monastir, Tunisia	Hard			6–7(1–7), 3–6
Loss	8.	17 July 2021	M15	Monastir, Tunisia	Hard	Jeremy Beale	Santiago Rodríguez Taverna	7–5, 4–6, [7–10]
Win	2.	7 August 2021	M15	Monastir, Tunisia	Hard	Blake Ellis		6–2, 6–3
Win	3.	11 September 2021	M15	Monastir, Tunisia	Hard		Robert Strombachs	7–6(7–1), 6–7(5–7), [10–4]
Win	4.	18 September 2021	M15	Monastir, Tunisia	Hard	Li Tu		6–0, 6–4
Loss	9.	25 September 2021	M15	Monastir, Tunisia	Hard			3–6, 6–4, [6–10]
Win	5.	16 October 2021	M15	Monastir, Tunisia	Hard		Anis Ghorbel	6–7(1–7), 6–4, [11–9]
Win	6.	30 October 2021	M15	Monastir, Tunisia	Hard	Mirko Martinez		6–4, 1–6, [10–8]
Win	7.	6 November 2021	M15	Monastir, Tunisia	Hard	Mirko Martinez		3–6, 7–6(7–5), [10–8]

Davis Cup (3)[]

• indicates the outcome of the Davis Cup match followed by the score, date, place of event, the zonal classification and its phase, and the court surface.

Rubber outcome	No.	Rubber	Match type (partner if any)	Opponent nation	Opponent player(s)	Score
2–3; 14-15 September 2018; Gimcheon Sports Town Tennis Courts, Gimcheon, South Korea; Asia/Oceania Group I Relegation playoff, 2nd round playoff; Hard (i) surface
Victory	1.	III	Doubles (with Artem Sitak)	South Korea	Hong Seong-chan / Lee Jea-moon	7–5, 6–3
3–1; 14-15 September 2019; Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex, Jakarta, Indonesia; Asia/Oceania Zone Group II playoffs (First round); Hard surface
Victory	2.	I	Singles	Indonesia		7–6(9–7), 6–3
3–1; 6-7 March 2020; ASB Tennis Centre, Auckland, New Zealand; World Group I Play-offs, 1st round playoff; Hard surface
Defeat	1.	II	Singles	Venezuela	Luis David Martínez	7–5, 4–6, 2–6

External links[]

• Ajeet Rai at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Ajeet Rai at the International Tennis Federation
• Ajeet Rai at the Davis Cup