The top two Americans in the ATP Doubles Rankings will be teaming up to play the 2024 Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship. They will be joined by seven players who have previously reached the US Clay final in this year’s field.
Austin Krajicek, an NCAA Champion at Texas A&M who is the ATP’s No. 1 ranked doubles player, will partner with World No. 7 Rajeev Ram to be the top seeds in the ATP 250 at River Oaks Country Club.
This will mark just the third ATP tournament Krajicek and Ram will play together, though the duo has teamed up to represent Team USA several times in Davis Cup ties over the past year. Though limited, their ATP experience together has been successful, having reached the Newport semifinals in 2015 and winning the Moscow title in 2018.
Ram, who held the No. 1 ranking for nine weeks, owns 31 titles – including four at Grand Slams – during a pro career that followed winning an NCAA team and doubles title at the University of Illinois.
Krajicek held the No. 1 ranking for 22 weeks last season and returned to the top spot just this week. He has won 12 career titles, including his first Grand Slam which came at last year’s French Open. He was inducted into the Aggie Athletic Hall of Fame in 2021.
Defending champions Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson will lead the competition against the American duo. Purcell will be aiming for a three-peat, having won the 2022 title with fellow Australian Matt Ebden before teaming up with compatriot Thompson last year.
They are two of the four past champions in the field. Santiago Gonzalez returns, this year partnering with Neal Skupski who he beat in the 2019 US Clay final. Gonzalez, who was also a finalist in 2016, was the 2019 Langston Sportsmanship Award winner.
The last past champion in the field is John Peers, the 2013 winner who is back and teaming up with Will Blumberg, a 10-time All-American at the University of North Carolina.
Also in the field are a pair of past runners-up – 2023 finalist Julian Cash returns to play with Robert Galloway while 2018 finalist Andre Begemann will be playing with Sriram Balaji.
Purcell and Thompson are not the only Australian duo of note in the field. Rinky Hijikata, the 2023 Australian Open winner, is teaming up with Andrew Harris, who claimed the 2012 junior titles at the French Open and Wimbledon with Nick Kyrgios.
Purcell and Thompson will also play singles alongside a field headlined by the American quartet of defending champion Frances Tiafoe as well as Ben Shelton, Tommy Paul and Chris Eubanks.
The full list of player entries for singles, doubles and qualifying can be found here.
The 2024 U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship begins March 30 at River Oaks Country Club. The doubles final will be held April 6 while the single title will be decided on April 7.
