Country (sports) | ![]() |
---|---|
Residence | New Plymouth, New Zealand |
Born | New Plymouth | 18 January 1999
Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) |
Plays | Right-handed |
Coach | Rakesh Rai |
Prize money | $87,772 |
Singles | |
Career record | 1–8 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup) |
Career titles | 3 ITF |
Highest ranking | No. 417 (10 April 2023) |
Current ranking | No. 624 (10 June 2024) |
Doubles | |
Career record | 1–3 |
Career titles | 1 Challenger, 14 ITF |
Highest ranking | No. 227 (10 June 2024) |
Current ranking | No. 227 (10 June 2024) |
Team competitions | |
Davis Cup | 3–8 (singles 2-8) |
Last updated on: 14 June 2024. |
Ajeet Shankar Rai (born 18 January 1999) is a New Zealand professional tennis player.
Rai has a career-high singles ranking by the ATP of 417, achieved on 10 April 2023, and a best doubles ranking of world No. 244, reached on 1 April 2024.
Tennis career
[edit]2018
[edit]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
[edit]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
[edit]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
[edit]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.
2022
[edit]Rai made three more ITF singles finals, winning the last of them. He also took the doubles title at Nonthaburi in his first ATP Challenger event.
ATP Challenger and ITF Circuit finals
[edit]Singles: 6 (3 titles, 3 runner-ups)
[edit]
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Result | No. | Date | Level | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
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Win | 1. | 13 October 2018 | 15,000 | Hua Hin, Thailand | Hard | ![]() |
6–3, 4–6, 6–4 |
Loss | 1. | 28 August 2022 | M15 | Changwon, Korea Rep. | Hard | ![]() |
4–6, 4–6 |
Loss | 2. | 9 October 2022 | M25 | Tây Ninh, Vietnam | Hard | ![]() |
4–6, 4–6 |
Win | 2. | 18 December 2022 | M15 | Wellington, New Zealand | Hard (i) [Note 1] | ![]() |
6–2, 6–4 |
Win | 3. | 8 October 2023 | M25 | Cairns, Australia | Hard | ![]() |
3–2, ret. |
Loss | 3. | 16 June 2024 | M15 | Hong Kong, China | Hard | ![]() |
4–6, 2–6 |
Note 1: this was an outdoor tournament, but several matches, including the final, were played indoors due to bad weather.
Doubles: 27 (14 titles, 13 runner-ups)
[edit]
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Result | No. | Date | Level | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Loss | 1. | 12 October 2018 | 15,000 | Hua Hin, Thailand | Hard | ![]() |
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1–6, 6–1, [6–10] |
Loss | 2. | 24 August 2019 | M15 | Hua Hin, Thailand | Hard | ![]() |
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2–6, 0–6 |
Loss | 3. | 7 September 2019 | M15 | Hua Hin, Thailand | Hard | ![]() |
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6–7(4–7), 2–6 |
Loss | 4. | 23 November 2019 | M15 | Cancún, Mexico | Hard | ![]() |
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5–7, 5–7 |
Win | 1. | 1 February 2020 | M15 | Cancún, Mexico | Hard | ![]() |
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6–4, 6–2 |
Loss | 5. | 29 May 2021 | M15 | Monastir, Tunisia | Hard | ![]() |
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4–6, 4–6 |
Loss | 6. | 12 June 2021 | M15 | Monastir, Tunisia | Hard | ![]() |
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w/o |
Loss | 7. | 26 June 2021 | M15 | Monastir, Tunisia | Hard | ![]() |
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6–7(1–7), 3–6 |
Loss | 8. | 17 July 2021 | M15 | Monastir, Tunisia | Hard | ![]() |
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7–5, 4–6, [7–10] |
Win | 2. | 7 August 2021 | M15 | Monastir, Tunisia | Hard | ![]() |
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6–2, 6–3 |
Win | 3. | 11 September 2021 | M15 | Monastir, Tunisia | Hard | ![]() |
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7–6(7–1), 6–7(5–7), [10–4] |
Win | 4. | 18 September 2021 | M15 | Monastir, Tunisia | Hard | ![]() |
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6–0, 6–4 |
Loss | 9. | 25 September 2021 | M15 | Monastir, Tunisia | Hard | ![]() |
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3–6, 6–4, [6–10] |
Win | 5. | 16 October 2021 | M15 | Monastir, Tunisia | Hard | ![]() |
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6–7(1–7), 6–4, [11–9] |
Win | 6. | 30 October 2021 | M15 | Monastir, Tunisia | Hard | ![]() |
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6–4, 1–6, [10–8] |
Win | 7. | 6 November 2021 | M15 | Monastir, Tunisia | Hard | ![]() |
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3–6, 7–6(7–5), [10–8] |
Win | 8. | 27 August 2022 | M15 | Changwon, Korea Rep. | Hard | ![]() |
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5–7, 6–4, [10–8] |
Win | 9. | 10 September 2022 | Challenger | Nonthaburi, Thailand | Hard | ![]() |
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6–1, 7–6(8–6) |
Loss | 10. | 5 November 2022 | Challenger | Sydney, Australia | Hard | ![]() |
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6–4, 5–7, [9–11] |
Win | 10. | 23 September 2023 | M25 | Darwin, Australia | Hard | ![]() |
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6–1, 6–4 |
Win | 11. | 25 November 2023 | M25 | Brisbane, Australia | Hard | ![]() |
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6–4, 6–4 |
Win | 12. | 3 December 2023 | M25 | Carrara, Australia | Hard | ![]() |
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7–1, 7–6(12–10) |
Loss | 11. | 27 January 2024 | Challenger | Indian Wells, USA | Hard | ![]() |
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4–6, 6–3, [3–10] |
Loss | 12. | 2 March 2024 | M25 | Traralgon, Australia | Hard | ![]() |
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1–6, 3–6 |
Win | 13 | 23 March 2024 | M25 | Swan Hill, Australia | Grass | ![]() |
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6–4, 6–4 |
Win | 14 | 18 May 2024 | M25 | Luan, China | Hard | ![]() |
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6–2, 6–2 |
Loss | 13. | 15 June 2024 | M15 | Hong Kong, China | Hard | ![]() |
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3–6, 5–7 |
Davis Cup (11)
[edit]Group membership |
World Group (0) |
Group I (1–8) |
Group II (2–0) |
Group III (0) |
Group IV (0) |
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ||||||
Victory | 1. | III | Doubles (with Artem Sitak) | ![]() |
Hong Seong-chan / Lee Jea-moon | 7–5, 6–3 |
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Victory | 2. | I | Singles | ![]() |
Muhammad Rifqi Fitriadi | 7–6(9–7), 6–3 |
Defeat | 1. | IV | Singles (dead rubber) | Ari Fahresi | 3–6, 6–2, [7–10] | |
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Defeat | 2. | II | Singles | ![]() |
Luis David Martínez | 7–5, 4–6, 2–6 |
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Defeat | 3. | II | Singles | ![]() |
Pablo Cuevas | 4–6, 2–6 |
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Defeat | 4. | II | Singles | ![]() |
Otto Virtanen | 4–6, 3–6 |
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Defeat | 5. | I | Singles | ![]() |
Alexander Lazarov | 6–7(1–7), 2–6 |
Defeat | 6. | IV | Singles | Dimitar Kuzmanov | 3–6, 7–5, 4–6 | |
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Victory | 3. | II | Singles | ![]() |
Maximus Jones | 6–1, 6–3 |
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Defeat | 7. | II | Singles | ![]() |
Yankı Erel | 7–6(7–5), 2–6, 4–6 |
Defeat | 8. | IV | Singles | Altuğ Çelikbilek | 3–6, 2–6 |
External links
[edit]- Ajeet Rai at the Association of Tennis Professionals
- Ajeet Rai at the International Tennis Federation
- Ajeet Rai at the Davis Cup