6-time Grand Slam Champion Salisbury Retires After Glittering Doubles Career

Former world number one Joe Salisbury has retired from professional tennis after a decorated career that brought him six Grand Slam men’s doubles titles.

The 34-year-old Londoner chose the US Open as his final tournament and signed off by reaching the semi-finals alongside long-time partner Rajeev Ram, who had also announced his retirement.

The setting was particularly fitting for Salisbury and Ram, who made history in 2023 by becoming the first men’s doubles partnership to win three consecutive US Open titles.

Salisbury is Britain’s most successful men’s doubles player of the Open era, having also won the Australian Open in 2020 with Ram and two mixed doubles Grand Slam titles with American Desirae Krawczyk.

He finished his career with 17 ATP Tour-level titles, including back-to-back ATP Finals triumphs in 2022 and 2023.

Salisbury said he had been considering retirement for some time before deciding that the US Open provided the ideal opportunity to bring his career to an end.

“I have been thinking about my future for a while and I am very happy with the decision,” Salisbury said in a statement posted on Instagram.

“Tennis has been my life for as long as I can remember and I have been incredibly fortunate to have had all the opportunities, experiences and success that I have.

“To be able to travel the world and call playing tennis my job has been a dream come true and I never believed I could have lived the life and had the career that I have.

“I gave it my all and know I can be proud and look back with no regrets.”

Salisbury took a three-month break from the tour earlier this year after speaking publicly about anxiety that had affected his experience of professional tennis.

Although he did not believe it had significantly affected his performances, he said it had created a persistent “feeling of dread” and made life on the road increasingly difficult.

“I wasn’t really enjoying being on tour for a few reasons,” Salisbury told BBC Radio 5 Live.

He returned to competition but endured an unsuccessful season before reuniting with Ram, with whom he had enjoyed his greatest Grand Slam success.

“I came back and I didn’t really have a successful year. Then I teamed back up with my partner, Rajeev Ram, who I had all my success in Grand Slam titles with, so it was great playing with him again,” he said.

With Ram already planning to retire at the US Open, Salisbury decided it was the right time to end his own career.

“I thought I could go on until the end of this year, maybe next year, but I felt like it was nice to finish my career playing with him at the US Open where we had our success, and we had a good run making the semi-finals to finish,” he added.

Salisbury leaves the sport having established himself as one of the leading doubles players of his generation and one of Britain’s most successful players of the Open era.

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