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Rajeev Ram went from lucky loser to first time ATP Tour winner at Newport last week but just how good is the American? Tennis Spy takes a look.

Full name: Rajeev Ram

Nationality: American (Born in Denver, Colorado)

Age: 25 (18.03.1984)

World Ranking: 108

Career highlights: His victory on the grass at Newport last weekend represented his first ever ATP title. It also saw him move up 73 places in the world rankings to a career high position of 108. At the same event he also won the doubles with Jordan Kerr which was his second ATP doubles title (Chennai earlier this year with Eric Butorac was his first). Rajeev made the 2007 Wimbledon doubles quarter-finals with Harel Levy and has been as high as 43 in the doubles rankings (currently he is 52). He had a great college career despite only spending one year at the University of Illinois as he won the national doubles title with Brian Wilson and helped his college to the NCAA team championships.

General: Ram enjoyed an extraordinary week at Newport after only entering the tournament as a lucky loser. Due to bad weather he had to play eight matches in the final three days at the Rhode Islands venue and on one day he had to play four matches (two doubles and two singles) and won them all. He served for the first set in the final against Sam Querrey before losing it in a tie-break but ended up winning the match 6-7(3) 7-5 6-3 for by far the biggest victory of his career to date.

Strengths: It was no surprise to see Ram's big breakthrough come on grass because serve and volley is really his strong point. He also has a nice slice which he uses a lot from the back of the court. He stormed through the Wimbledon qualifiers earlier this year without dropping a set before losing to Philipp Petzschner in four sets in the main draw which again shows his liking for the green stuff. He showed good stamina at Newport playing so many matches in such a short space of time and great guts to come from behind and beat Querrey in the final. He is obviously not in the same league as Pete Sampras but the way he plays the game is quite similar to the former world number one.

Weaknesses: One of the reasons why Ram has had more success in doubles is because his movement is not the best and that makes it hard for him to cover the entire court in singles play. With the exception of his slice his ground strokes are pretty average too which makes it difficult for him to win points from the back of the court. He also just does not have the raw natural ability of some of the top players. It was fantastic for him to win at Newport but Querrey was the only top 100 player he played in the tournament.

Prospects: Ram is now on the brink of cracking the top 100 for the first time in his career and if he does turn his ranking into double digits it would be a great achievement. He can do it but it is hard to see him jumping up much further. The players in the top 50 just have a little bit too much class and at 25 it is hard to see Ram reaching that level. He can continue to thrive in the doubles game though and might be able to match his 2007 quarter-final run at Wimbledon in the future if he finds the right partner.

General: He is of Indian descent and is a big cricket fan but lists an Australian - Brett Lee - as his favourite player. His favourite tennis player is Boris Becker. He was six foot by the age of 13 and is currently 6'4". He began playing tennis when he was just four. His father Raghav is a biologist and his mother Sushma is a scientific technician and both were in Newport last week to see his victory. He enjoys playing golf and table tennis.

Seán Fay / Eurosport