For the second time in six months, Coronado High School graduate Ryan Seggerman has earned a bid into a Grand Slam tennis tournament. In mid-December, Seggerman and Rithvik Bollipalli learned that they gained entry into the Australian Open as a doubles team.
Seggerman is the seventh-ranked American in doubles, and at 25 years old, is the third youngest American inside the worldwide doubles top 100. Only Americans Sebastian Korda, 24, and Alex Michelsen, 20, are younger.
Path to the Bid
The Grand Slam tournaments admit a field of 64 doubles teams, or 128 players. Seggerman and Bollipalli, ranked 83 and 72 respectively at the time of their entry, were ranked within the top 128 doubles players, and so would have seemed to be a lock to get into the tournament.
However, tournament officials allow players to use their singles rankings to qualify to play doubles. So, for example, Jannik Sinner is ranked number one in singles but 339 in doubles. If Sinner wanted to play doubles, he could use his #1 singles ranking to help him get a bid.
Among the top 64 singles players, only three are also ranked within the top 64 in doubles: Thomas Machac (26S, 49D), Jordan Thompson (27S, 3D), and Zhizhen Zhang (47S, 50D).
If the remaining 61 singles players used their singles rankings to qualify for doubles (and had a similarly ranked partner), they earned a doubles bid over doubles specialists who had better rankings in doubles.
What did the rule mean for Seggerman and Bollipalli? Because they both were ranked outside the top 64 for both singles and doubles, their bid was not assured. For this 2025 Australian Open tournament, they felt fortunate to eke in as the the second to last team.
Partnership With Bollipalli
The pair has never played together before so readers might wonder how the partnership arose. Seggerman and Bollipalli often see each other (and have twice competed across the net, besting each other once) at tournaments.
They both wanted to try for a bid but weren’t confident that their rankings would get them in, so the two made a deal. Each would try to find a partner who had a relatively high ranking. If those attempts fell through, they would enter the tournament as partners and hope that they earned an entry.
“We were both keen on getting in if at all possible,” said Seggerman. “We were each other’s backup plan.”
“‘Hey, if you find someone better, no problem, go with them,'” said Seggerman, recalling the conversation with Bollipalli. “We just wanted to give each other the best chance to get into the Australian.”
Bollipalli and Seggerman set up near Melbourne about a week ago, and have spent the time preparing for the tournament. The Australian Open is Bollipalli’s first grand slam, and Seggerman’s second.
Seggerman’s analytical approach to the game came through while talking about his partner. Bollipalli will play the deuce side (the right side from the perspective of a player receiving the serve).
“He plays the deuce side very well,” said Seggerman. “That can be a tough side for right-handed players, … That net guy takes up a lot of space. It’s hard to do much with a backhand in the middle (when a serve is hit down the middle), but he’s got really excellent feel so whether it’s lobs or angles, he plays that position really well and is good at getting getting around that net player.”
Seggerman went on to praise Bollipalli’s hands at the net, as well as his savvy doubles play.
They will play Round 1 on either Jan 13, 14, or 15 in the Pacific time zone (San Diego is 19 hours behind Melbourne). They got a fairly unfortunate draw, however, and will play the six seeds Harri Heliovaara and Hentry Patten (ranked 16th and 14th respectively in doubles). Check here for the day the pair plays.
Seggerman’s Road to the Pros
Seggerman’s trajectory has been nothing short of extraordinary. On Jan 9, 2023, Seggerman was ranked 2084 in doubles. By January 8, 2024, he had catapulted to 220, and as of January 6, 2025, he is ranked 77 in the world.
For about a year and a half, Seggerman played with fellow San Diegan Patrik Trhac. The pair had great success, and in August, Seggerman and Thac earned a wildcard bid in the US Open. They lost in the first round, 6-3, 6-4, to Yuki Bhambri and Albano Olivetti. Since then, the pair has played together off and on.
In December, they were two of only eight American doubles players selected for a training program in Orlando. The training, hosted by the USTA, included support from Mike and Bob Bryan, former world number 1 doubles players and winners of 119 tournaments. During that training, Seggerman began to feel more confident with his decision-making and court positioning, and appreciated the opportunity to grow his game. Trhac and Seggerman remain great friends and plan to play tournaments together in the future.
Seggerman started 2025 well, winning a Challenger tournament with partner Elliot Spizzirri in Canberra, Australia.
With his second shot at a Grand Slam tournament, Seggerman is hoping for more. The Coronado Community is rooting for him. As a reminder, Seggerman and Bollipalli will play Round 1 on either Jan 13, 14, or 15 in the Pacific time zone. Check here for the day the pair plays.
