EXCLUSIVE: Vivek Ramaswamy taught himself a new backhand so he could continue playing tennis with one arm when he broke his wrist
A nationally ranked junior tennis player, Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy thought his game was up when he broke his wrist.
He had always used a two-handed backhand, so his chances of winning with one arm in a cast seemed minimal.
But with the same focus that has taken him from an obscure but successful businessman to a challenger for the top spot in the country, young Vivek taught himself a vicious one-handed cut that brought him back into contention, a former teammate told the DailyMail.
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“Vivek kept playing and within a few weeks he had taught himself a one-handed backhand and was almost hitting me with one arm,” said Corey Ingle.
‘Nothing could stop the child.
Young Vivek stars on the field in his freshman year of high school, as evidenced by his school’s yearbook
Ramaswamy used the focus he learned on the tennis court to beat his opponents on the debate stage in Milwaukee
Vivek broke his wrist but played on after teaching himself a vicious, one hand slashed backhan that put him back in the fray
“He used a lot of intellect and focus,” says Ingle, 38. “He probably wasn’t the most talented person on the field, but he could always find ways to win.
“And in tennis, that’s often the difference.”
Ingle, now an intellectual property attorney in Ramaswamy’s hometown of Cincinnati, said the son of Indian immigrants was determined not to let the wrist injury stop him.
“When he had a task ahead of him, he always did it incredibly well, whether it was studying where he really excelled, or playing tennis. He was consistent and a hard worker.’
“He was pretty good at everything he touched, it seemed. He was a good tennis player and a good pianist. The list goes on.’
Ramaswamy still plays tennis at every opportunity. He hired New York Magazine editor Benjamin Hart as part of a profile.
“Ramaswamy plays like a club pro with fluid groundstrokes and an impressively fast serve.”
Ramaswamy is now second in some polls and third in others as he and other Republicans battle for their party’s presidential nomination.
Former President Donald Trump, who still leads by a significant margin in all polls, has even sung his praises, saying he would make a “very good” vice president after his performance in last week’s debate in Milwaukee, who was widely believed to have won.
Ramaswamy, 38, has said he is not interested in the number two spot – although he softened that stance when he told a British interviewer that the job would be ‘a nice position’ for someone his age.
Young Vivek asked why he should vote for the candidate with the least experience when he appeared at an MSNBC town hall in 2004 with then-Democrat candidate Al Sharpton
Ramaswamy was valedictorian in the class of 2003 at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati, where fees are now $16,000 a year
Ramaswamy, 38, took part in the hustings at the Eisenhower Social in Boone, Iowa, on Thursday
But those who know the biotech billionaire insist he’s focused on America’s top job, rather than landing a job in a future Trump administration.
“I don’t think he would waste his time… There aren’t many things in life that he’s probably focused on that haven’t been successful,” Ingle said.
Ingle and Ramaswamy — who recently met again during a recent campaign hiatus — have known each other since they started playing tennis at age 12, both attended the elite Jesuit St Xavier High School in Cincinnati, where fees are currently $16,000 a year.
Attorney Corey Ingle says Ramaswamy was “always out of school work” other students were doing
They trained at the Queen’s City Racquet Club and Fitness Center, a short drive from the Cincinnati suburb of Evendale, where the son of Indian immigrants grew up with his young brother Shankar.
His father was a General Electric engineer and his mother was a geriatric psychiatrist who immigrated to the United States from Kerala, South India, over forty years ago.
Friends described Ramaswamy as “quiet” and “squeaky clean”, saying he was someone who was almost always top of his class and got some of the best grades in the school’s history.
“They even had to start giving him several competition lessons because he always went above and beyond what everyone else was doing,” said an ex-St Xavier student.
And in his spare time, outside of college and the tennis court, Ramaswamy also attended two science clubs, according to his 2002 yearbook.
It’s a far cry from the incendiary entrepreneur-turned-political hopeful who rails against “awake” issues like the climate change agenda and the “cult-like” LGBT community.
Ramaswamy, 17, was also part of a high school initiative known as ‘Hands Across Campus’.
The after-school club “focuses on developing the awareness and social skills students must acquire to become a leader in the 21st century.”
He was known for being “quiet” and “squeaky clean” when he played piano and tennis in high school and was almost always top of his class
Vivek Ramaswamy was widely believed to have had the best performance at the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee last week
Young Vivek grew up in this house in the Cincinnati suburb of Evendale
Vivek and his friend Corey Ingle played tennis at the Queen City Racquet and Fitness Club
The Republican nominee would later go on to study at Harvard and Yale before launching his biotech empire, Roivant Sciences.
Ingle said his friend showed little interest in politics as a youngster.
“As far as I remember, he was never really outspoken about politics,” Ingle told DailyMail.com. “I don’t think what he’s saying now is much different from his attitude in high school.
“He may have been libertarian in orientation. So he didn’t do a big flip-flop there.”
“I think a lot of problems weren’t there now (then),” he added. ‘He didn’t follow day-to-day politics. I’m sure he noticed, but he wasn’t consumed by it or anything like that.’
Ramaswamy, a 38-year-old father of two, who is married to famed Ohio throat surgeon Apoorva, has risen in the voter polls since his debate appearance last week and a string of media appearances over the summer.
It’s up from 1 percent in March to nearly just over 9 percent, according to an average of the GOP’s primary polls by political forecasters 538.
However, Ramaswamy faces an uphill battle to topple Donald Trump’s position as the frontrunner, which rose to 50 percent.
That’s despite a slew of indictments accusing the former president of attempting to overturn the 2020 election results by mishandling classified documents.
The St. Xavier graduate, who also trails Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in some polls, won’t have to score a major setback to win.
But as ex-tennis partner Cory Ingle recalls of their time together on the court, “He was dignified in defeat. I mean, everybody loses in tennis.”