Paris, France – John Peers (Baylor & Middle Tennessee), Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M), Rajeev Ram (Illinois), and Diana Shnaider (NC State) were among the Olympians who took home medals this past weekend in Paris.
Joining forces with Australian teammate Matt Ebden, former Baylor Bear John Peers captured Australia’s second tennis gold medal in Olympic history this past Saturday. Trailing by a set and 2-4 in the second, the pair launched their comeback against the all-former collegian team, Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram, of the United States, winning 6-7(6), 7-6(1), 10-8 to claim gold. With the win, Peers becomes the first former Bear to win a gold medal in tennis.
Before the tour, Peers transferred to Baylor from Middle Tennessee for his senior season, finishing with a team-best record of 30-13 in singles and 38-6 in doubles. Peers was named All-Big 12 in both singles and doubles, an All-American in doubles with Roberto Maytin, and the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year. Before Baylor, Peers racked up a 72-25 record in singles play and a 56-31 mark in doubles at Middle Tennessee and earned All-Conference honors from the Sun Belt in 2009 and 2010 for both singles and doubles.
Before they claimed silver, Krajicek and Ram began their Olympic run dominantly, getting wins over Australian duo Alex de Minaur and Alexei Popyrin and more notably Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal. Falling short to Peers and Ebden in the gold medal match, Ram would earn his second Olympic medal of his storied career, having won silver with Venus Williams in the 2016 Olympic games. This was Ram’s third time competing in the Olympic games and with the medal, he is now the seventh Illinois alum to win multiple Olympic medals.
Ram was a member of Illinois’ 2003 NCAA National Championship-winning team. He also won the 2003 NCAA doubles title and amassed ITA All-American, All-Big Ten First Team, and Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors. Since turning professional, Ram has won four Grand Slam doubles titles and has been ranked as high as No. 1 in the world in doubles.
Much like Ram, Krajicek found success at the collegiate level before heading on tour. In 2011, the former Aggie won the NCAA doubles title, was a four-time ITA All-American in doubles, two-time ITA All-American in singles, and was the Big 12 Player of the Year in 2010 and 2011. Last year, Krajicek won the 2023 French Open to claim the first Grand Slam title of his career and reached the No.1 world ranking in doubles, most recently in March, for a total of 26 weeks.
Former NC State standout, Diana Shnaider, continued to add to her extremely impressive 2024 calendar year, claiming the silver medal alongside partner Mirra Andreeva in women’s doubles. Before falling to Italy’s Sara Errani and Jasmine Paoalini in a close 6-2, 1-6, 7-10 encounter, Shnaider and Andreeva eliminated the second-seeded pairing of Katerina Siniakova and Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic, the Tokyo Olympic champions, in the quarterfinals. Shnaider entered the Olympic games as the first player from NC State women’s tennis to appear in the games and is now the first NC State tennis player to win an Olympic medal.
Shnaider won her first career title on the hard courts of Hua Hin this February and has since followed it up with a second title on grass at Bad Homburg before this most recent title on clay. With her most recent victory on the clay, Shnaider has won WTA singles titles on all three surfaces this year, the first woman to do so in the same year since Caroline Garcia in 2022. She is also the youngest player to complete the surface title sweep in a single year since 19-year-old Caroline Wozniacki did so in 2009.
During her stand-alone season at NC State, the former Wolfpack women’s tennis star won ACC Freshman of the Year and helped guide the team to their first-ever ACC Championship and appearance in the NCAA National Championship match.
