Joe Salisbury won his first Grand Slam victory in the Australian Open for men’s doubles alongside Rajeev Ram. The pair who were the favorites before the final beat Luke Saville and Max Purcell 6-4, 6-2 to clinch the title but Salisbury could well not have been playing!
After the iconic victory, Salisbury said that they had set goals at the end of last year. One of the goals was to win the Grand Slam and the other was to end the year at the top of the rankings in men’s doubles category.
As far as his personal goal is concerned, Salisbury wants to buy his apartment this year near Putney, the place he grew up in. With the price money of GBP 200,000 from the victory, Salisbury is very well on the course for his goals.
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Interestingly enough, the British champion was thinking of retiring from the game a few years ago as it was getting difficult to make a living out of it.
Salisbury said that he was struck with a lot of injuries including glandular fever during the three years he played up to college. Even after entering college, he was not sure to pursue the sport professionally. After having finally decided to give it a try, he faced times during the first couple of years when he was not making any money out of it.
It is a great story for other British players to get inspired from. Salisbury added:
“I guess it shows even if you’re not one of the top juniors winning all the junior Grand Slams or breaking through when you’re 19, 20, that you can still have a very good career.”
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Salisbury realized the level he could play when he made to the semi-finals of Wimbledon two years ago. Although he could not undertake consistent endurance training due to the glandular fever, the rise in the doubles game has been incredible.
More exciting times await for Salisbury this year as there is a chance given that he picks his partner for the Olympics, that his partner is Andy Murray, the current singles champion. That will be interesting to watch.
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