Purav Raja ( ; born 7 December 1985) is a former Indian professional tennis player. He specializes in doubles and competes on the ATP World Tour. He has won two ATP doubles titles and represents India in the Davis Cup.

Personal and early life Purav Raja grew up in Mumbai and began playing tennis when he was 7 years old. He cites indoor carpet as his preferred surface, with his favourite shot being the drop shot. Raja was educated at Millfield in Somerset.

Raja is very active in the Ananda Ashran orphanage and The Fellowship of the Physically Handicapped in Mumbai. He splits his training between Mumbai and Bromley.

Professional career Early years Raja turned pro in year 2005. He started with ITF tour finding negligible success in singles but continued to excel in doubles. In year 2007 he started emerging as a doubles specialist as he went on to win 4 ITF titles. He followed his success in year 2008 with four more ITF doubles titles. The same year he reached his first ATP Challenger doubles final at New Delhi Challenger 4 partnering with compatriot Rohan Gajjar. He won his first doubles ATP Challenger title at 2009 Karshi Challenger with his Australian Partner Sadik Kadir.

2010–2012 From year 2010 Raja started finding consistent success at ATP Challenger tour. In year 2010 he reached four Challenger finals and won a title at 2010 Dunlop World Challenge in Tokyo with partner Treat Conrad Huey. In 2011 Raja reached three challenger finals winning one of it at 2011 Trofeo Paolo Corazzi. His performance dipped slightly in 2012. He reached only two Challenger finals and could not win a title after three successful years.

2013: Breakthrough, First ATP world tour title In February, Raja made his Davis Cup debut against Korea. He partnered with Indian doubles legend Leander Paes and won his debut tie.

2013 proved to be a breakthrough year for Raja. He played most of the season with his most successful partner Divij Sharan. The pair performed consistently and reached 5 Challenger finals, winning a title at Kyoto Challenger, Japan. Raja and Divij found their biggest success by winning their first ATP world tour title at 2013 Claro Open in Bogotá, Colombia. They defeated second-seed French-Dutch combination of Édouard Roger-Vasselin and Igor Sijsling in the finals.

They also entered the qualifying draw at 2013 Wimbledon Championships and qualified for the main draw. They lost in the first round to Nicholas Monroe and Simon Stadler. This was the first match at a Grand Slam event for both Raja and Divij.

As a result of good run Raja entered top 100 rankings for the first time in his career. He also finished year inside top 100 doubles rankings at 90.

2014 Raja's performance dipped a bit in 2014. He could reach only two Challenger finals winning only one title. He won the title with Divij Sharan at Kyoto Challenger in Japan. His performance at ATP world tour level was also poor with his best finish as a semifinal appearance at Zagreb Indoors. As a result, his rankings fell out of top 100 and he finished year at 130.

2015 Raja started season on strong note. He reached to semifinals at Chennai Open. In February, he partnered with Fabrice Martin and made to the finals at Zagreb Indoors. This was Raja's second ATP world tour level final. They lost to second seeds Marin Draganja and Henri Kontinen in the finals. But after a strong performance at ATP world tour level Raja started to struggle with his form. He could make it to only one Challenger final in first half of the season. He made a good comeback in the second half. He won a title at Portorož Challenger and made it to the finals at Hua Hin Challenger. He finished the year ranked 93rd in doubles.

2016: Second ATP world tour title 2016 proved to be a very good year for Raja. He played for most of the year with compatriot Divij Sharan and together they reached 6 ATP Challenger finals winning 4 of them. They won titles at the Manchester Trophy Challenger, Aegon Surbiton Trophy, Open Castilla y León and Pune Challenger. The pair also won their second ATP world tour title at Los Cabos Open, Mexico. They defeated the pair of Jonathan Erlich and Ken Skupski in the finals.

In Grand Slams, Raja played his first ever match of the French Open main draw along with Ivo Karlović of Croatia. But they crashed out in the opening round of the men's doubles event. The duo lost 1–6, 2–6 to ninth seeded Polish-Austrian pair of Łukasz Kubot and Alexander Peya.

2017 Raja continued his good form in 2017. He started the new season on a strong note by reaching his fourth ATP world tour final at the 2017 Chennai Open with partner Divij Sharan. In an all-Indian final they lost to the team of Rohan Bopanna and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan.

He reached three Challenger finals and won all of them. He won the Bordeaux Challenger with Divij. In November, he won back to back titles in two consecutive weeks at Knoxville and Champaign with Leander Paes.

This was the first year in Raja's career where he played in the main draw of all four Grand Slams. He played with Divij Sharan in the first three slams of the year and partnered with Leander Paes for US Open. He crashed out in the opening round at the Australian Open, reached the third round at French Open and lost in the second round at Wimbledon and US Open.

In September, Raja played his second Davis Cup match with Rohan Bopanna in world group play-offs against Canada. But they lost to the pair of Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil.

Raja reached his career best ranking of 52 on 17 July 2017 and finished the year with a doubles ranking of 60.

2018 Raja registered his best result at the Australian Open by reaching the third round. His partner at the event was Leander Paes.

Raja reached four ATP Challenger finals in 2018. He won two titles at Amex-Istanbul Challenger and Wolffkran Open while finishing as runner-up at Play in Challenger and Bengaluru Open.

On ATP tour he reached only two semi-finals and had a first round exit at 10 events. Due to the poor performance on the ATP world tour, he finished the year ranked 90th.

ATP career finals Doubles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runner-ups) LegendGrand Slam tournaments (0–0)ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0)ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–0)ATP World Tour 250 Series (2–2)Titles by surfaceHard (2–2)Clay (0–0)Grass (0–0)Titles by settingOutdoor (2–1)Indoor (0–1)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin1–0Colombia Open, Colombia250 SeriesHard Divij Sharan Édouard Roger-Vasselin Igor Sijsling7–6(7–4), 7–6(7–3)Loss1–1Zagreb Indoors, Croatia250 SeriesHard (i) Fabrice Martin Marin Draganja Henri Kontinen4–6, 4–6Win2–1Los Cabos Open, Mexico250 SeriesHard Divij Sharan Jonathan Erlich Ken Skupski7–6(7–4), 7–6(7–3)Loss2–2Chennai Open, India250 SeriesHard Divij Sharan Rohan Bopanna Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan3–6, 4–6

Challenger finals

Legend ATP Challenger Tour (21–24)

Doubles: 44 (21–23)

OutcomeW–LDateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponents in the finalScoreLoss 0–1 New Delhi 4, India Hard Rohan Gajjar Harsh Mankad Ashutosh Singh 6–4, 4–6, [9–11]Win 1–1 Karshi, Uzbekistan Hard Sadik Kadir Andis Juška Deniss Pavlovs 6–3, 7–6(7–4)Loss 1–2 Rome 3, Italy Clay Sadik Kadir Santiago González Travis Rettenmaier 2–6, 4–6Loss 1–3 Reggio Emilia, Italy Clay Sadik Kadir Philipp Oswald Martin Slanar 2–6, 7–5, [6–10]Loss 1–4 Beijing, China Hard Sadik Kadir Pierre-Ludovic Duclos Artem Sitak 6–7(4–7), 6–7(5–7)Win 2–4 Toyota, Japan Carpet (i) Treat Conrad Huey Tasuku Iwami Hiroki Kondo 6–1, 6–2Win 3–4 Cremona, Italy Hard Treat Conrad Huey Tomasz Bednarek Mateusz Kowalczyk 6–1, 6–2Loss 3–5 Recanati, Italy Hard Federico Gaio Frederik Nielsen Ken Skupski 4–6, 5–7Loss 3–6 Seoul, South Korea Hard Divij Sharan Sanchai Ratiwatana Sonchat Ratiwatana 4–6, 6–7(3–7)Loss 3–7 Fürth, Germany Clay Rameez Junaid Arnau Brugués Davi João Sousa 5–7, 7–6(7–4), [9–11]Loss 3–8 Loughborough, United Kingdom Hard Divij Sharan James Cerretani Adil Shamasdin 4–6, 5–7Win 4–8 Kyoto, Japan Carpet Divij Sharan Chris Guccione Matt Reid 6–4, 7–5Loss 4–9 Leon, Mexico Hard Divij Sharan Chris Guccione Matt Reid 3–6, 5–7Loss 4–10 Johannesburg, South Africa Hard Divij Sharan Prakash Amritraj Rajeev Ram 6–7(1–7), 6–7(1–7)Loss 4–11 Nottingham, United Kingdom Grass Divij Sharan Sanchai Ratiwatana Sonchat Ratiwatana 7–6(7–5), 6–7(3–7), [8–10]Loss 4–12 Tashkent, Uzbekistan Hard Divij Sharan Mikhail Elgin Teymuraz Gabashvili 4–6, 4–6Win 5–12 Kyoto, Japan Carpet Divij Sharan Sanchai Ratiwatana Michael Venus 5–7, 7–6(7–3), [10–4]Loss 5–13 Aptos, United States Hard Sanam Singh Ruben Bemelmans Laurynas Grigelis 3–6, 6–4, [9–11]Loss 5–14 Guangzhou, China Hard Fabrice Martin Daniel Muñoz de la Nava Aleksandr Nedovyesov 2–6, 5–7Win 6–14 Portorož, Slovenia Hard Fabrice Martin Aliaksandr Bury Andreas Siljeström 7–6(7–5), 4–6, [18–16]Loss 6–15 Hua Hin, Thailand Hard Andre Begemann Lee Hsin-han Lu Yen-hsun WalkoverLoss 6–16 Savannah, United States Clay Divij Sharan Brian Baker Ryan Harrison 7–5, 6–7(4–7), [8–10]Win 7–16 Manchester, United Kingdom Grass Divij Sharan Ken Skupski Neal Skupski 6–3, 3–6, [11–9]Win 8–16 Surbiton, United Kingdom Grass Divij Sharan Ken Skupski Neal Skupski 6–4, 7–6(7–3)Win 9–16 Segovia, Spain Hard Divij Sharan Quino Muñoz Akira Santillan 6–3, 4–6, [10–8]Win 10–16 Pune, India Hard Divij Sharan Luca Margaroli Hugo Nys 3–6, 6–3, [11–9]Loss 10–17 Bratislava, Slovakia Hard Divij Sharan Ken Skupski Neal Skupski 6–4, 3–6, [5–10]Win 11–17 Bordeaux, France Clay Divij Sharan Santiago González Artem Sitak 6–4, 6–4Win 12–17 Knoxville, United States Hard (i) Leander Paes James Cerretani John-Patrick Smith 7–6(7–4), 7–6(7–4)Win 13–17 Champaign, United States Hard (i) Leander Paes Ruan Roelofse Joe Salisbury 6–3, 6–7(5–7), [10–5]Loss 13–18 Lille, France Hard Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan Hugo Nys Tim Pütz 6–7(3–7), 6–1, [7–10]Win 14–18 Istanbul, Turkey Hard Rameez Junaid Timur Khabibulin Vladyslav Manafov 7–6(7–4), 4–6, [10–7]Win 15–18 Ismaning, Germany Carpet Antonio Šančić Rameez Junaid David Pel 5–7, 6–4, [10–5]Loss 15–19 Bangalore, India Hard Antonio Šančić Max Purcell Luke Saville 6–7(3–7), 3–6Win 16–19 Kobe, Japan Hard (i) Ramkumar Ramanathan André Göransson Christopher Rungkat7–6(8–6), 6–3Win 17–19 Pune, India Hard (i) Ramkumar Ramanathan Arjun Kadhe Saketh Myneni 7–6(7–3), 6–3Win 18–19 Bangalore, India Hard Ramkumar Ramanathan Matthew Ebden Leander Paes 6–0, 6–3Win 19–19 Lisbon, Portugal Clay Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan Nuno Borges Francisco Cabral 7–6(7–5), 6–3Loss 19–20 Tenerife, Spain Hard Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan Nuno Borges Francisco Cabral 3–6, 4–6Loss 19–21 Biel/Bienne, Switzerland Hard (i) Ramkumar Ramanathan Pierre-Hugues Herbert Albano Olivetti 3–6, 4–6Loss 19–22 Indianapolis, USA Hard (i) Divij Sharan Hans Hach Verdugo Hunter Reese 6–7(3–7), 6–3, [7–10]Win 20–22 Istanbul, Turkey Hard Divij Sharan Arjun Kadhe Fernando Romboli 6–4, 3–6, [10–8]Loss 20–23 Mouilleron-le-Captif, France Hard (i) Divij Sharan Sander Arends David Pel 7–6(7–1), 6–7(6–8), [6–10]Win 21–23 Helsinki, Finland Hard (i) Divij Sharan Reese Stalder Petros Tsitsipas 6–7(5–7), 6–3, [10–8]Loss 21–24 Les Franqueses del Vallès, Spain Hard Divij Sharan Anirudh Chandrasekar Vijay Sundar Prashanth 5–7, 1–6

Doubles performance timeline

Updated through the 2019 Wimbledon Championships. Tournament2013201420152016201720182019SRW–LAustralian OpenAAAA1R3RA0/22–2French OpenAAA1R3R1RA0/32–3Wimbledon1R1R1RA2R1R1R0/61–6US OpenAAAA2R1RA0/21–2Win–loss0–10–10–10–14–42–40–00/126–12

References

External links