My friends and family know not to bother me for three weeks each year.  Every year for the past 15 or so, I have had the privilege of spending every day at the end of August and beginning of September (except for Shabbat and some years, Rosh Hashanah!) at the US Open Tennis Championships, writing about Israeli and Jewish players mainly for the Jerusalem Post.  

On a good year, I arrive for the qualifying tournament, where I am most likely to see Israelis battling for a spot in the main draw.  And I get to stay through the finals, often getting to interview Israeli and Jewish juniors, and also covering wheelchair tennis.  It is tiring but it is the best job in the world! 

Sometimes I feel like an imposter.  While I know a bit about tennis and have written dozens of articles for the Jerusalem Post, the Times of Israel and other publications—and have even covered other tournaments including the Davis Cup and the Fed Cup, I am truly a part timer.  I am always in awe of the men and women who travel the globe—from the Australian to the French to Wimbledon to the US Open—to cover the events, the players, the behind the scenes and the vibe.  One of the greatest I have ever met is Tom Perrotta, who sadly died this week.  The tennis world lost a giant.  Tom died at age 44 after a 4-year battle with brain cancer.

Tom Perrotta wrote mainly for the Wall Street Journal.  His colleague, Jason Gay, wrote movingly about his friend and colleague.  He had an encyclopedic knowledge of tennis and was great covering technical aspects, but he always found interesting angles and behind the scenes, from articles on grunting, to players wearing or not wearing sunscreen, to “Why Andy Murray is a Tennis Nerd.”  And he always found time to schmooze with tennis colleagues.

I looked forward to seeing Tom each year at the US Open.  I would sometimes sit near him in the media section of Arthur Ashe Stadium and listen in awe as he and tennis journalist and historian par excellence, Steve Flink, would compare notes—about the match in progress, or about a match from 1998, where both could effortlessly from memory reconstruct the draw sheet.  I remember at the last US Open (where fans and reporters were allowed), standing around the info desk in the media center waiting for a not-so-top ranked player to come for a media session.  On a couple of occasions, it was me and Tom.  While waiting, we discussed our children and made other small talk.  I admired his knowledge and his insight and admired a guy who could do what he loved.  I didn’t realize he was also battling brain cancer.  Tom wrote a moving article in the Wall Street Journal this past November, when he was losing vision and cognitive processing speed.  While sad and angry, he was also delighted to have some much time at home with his wife and two sons.  It was entitled, “In a Stay At Home Pandemic, a Sportswriter Finds a Silver Lining.”  

In his tribute to Perrotta, Jason Gay shared a feeling that all of us lucky enough to cover the US Open can relate to.  “Here’s a little secret about what it’s like to cover one of those major tennis tournaments: It’s just as great as it sounds. It isn’t like the job doesn’t have its hassles, or bad days, but most of the time, it feels like you’re getting away with something.”  We get to be around tennis for so many hours and days in a row!

I look forward to being part of the team of 1200 credentialed media who get to share the stories of the US Open each year with the world.  The only part as great as the tennis itself is renewing acquaintances with old friends.  Let’s pray for a return to normal for the US Open 2021.  Looking forward to seeing you soon, Sandra, Cindy, Jerold, Michael, my Argentinian friends who share my love of Diego Schwartzman, all of my Japanese friends who share the last row in the media center with me and the Jerusalem Post, and so many others.  But I will miss you, Tom.  


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Original Article published on the Jewish News Syndicate

Washington Wizards head coach Scott Brooks started Wednesday’s pre-game media session with great news for Israel’s Deni Avdija. The 6-foot-9-inch Israeli forward, drafted No. 9 by the Wizards in the recent NBA draft, would be in the starting lineup in the Wizards’ first regular-season game against the Philadelphia 76ers.

“Deni has done a great job throughout camp. He has shown us a lot,” said Brooks. “I know he is only 19, but he plays with a passion and determination that I like. I like his toughness. It wasn’t a given. He really earned it.”

Avdija was likely a mix of energy and excitement before the game, telling his coach that “it doesn’t seem like a regular game with no fans.” Unlike last season, which took place in the NBA bubble in Florida, teams will play this season in arenas across the country, mostly without a live audience.

Avdija saw a lot of action in his NBA debut. He played 28 minutes and hit two three-point shots for a total of seven points and four rebounds, and made many passes to teammates in his NBA debut. The Wizards held on to a narrow lead throughout most of the game, but the nail-biter turned sour for them. The game was tied at 103 with 1:28 left. Even three-point-shot master Avdija couldn’t turn the game around when he entered for the final time with 42 seconds left on the clock. The Sixers closed out the season opener 113-107.

Brooks was disappointed with the loss though thrilled with Avdija’s performance. “We slipped up in the fourth quarter and gave up 40 points. We turned the ball over so many times—20 turnovers are a lot.” But he’s quick to point out about his rookie, “I thought he was fantastic,” despite some nervousness. “There were some butterflies. He cares, he is passionate, and he wants to do good. I think he played well. He makes winning plays and he cares about winning.”

Avdija denied the butterflies, reporting he “didn’t have any nerves. It is great playing in my first NBA game, regardless of the loss. To complete is a dream come true.”

He told media in a post-game press conference: “I am glad I came from Israel and the whole country is behind me.” He also thanked Israeli fans for staying up until the middle of the night to watch the game, and in Hebrew said, “Thank you, I love you!”

Avdija is already beloved by his teammates; stars Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal have taken him under their wings. Brooks reports, “Brad and Russell coach him a lot.”

And they certainly seem happy with what they see. Westbrook told reporters that “Deni’s going to be good. My job is to constantly stay on him and challenge him to be great!” Beal has reassured Avdija that he will have “good, bad and in-between games,” before adding, “I like his competitive spirit. He doesn’t back down.”

Avdija on the court, December 2020. Credit: Courtesy of the Washington Wizards.

‘Opportunity to give back to the community’

Westbrook is also looking after Avdija’s education off the court. Avdija, who has a Jewish mother and a Muslim father, spent this past Monday after team practice delivering Christmas presents in the local community. Brooks playfully told reporters how Westbrook told Avdija and fellow rookie Cassius Winston: “Take a shower, and let’s go! You guys are coming with me.”

Westbrook notes that “when you get in this league, you need to understand how the community supports the team and how important it is to be able to give back in the difficult times we are in. They are rookies, so it is their first round of community events. I wanted to make sure they had an opportunity to do something and give back to the community.”

Coach Scott Brooks during a Washington Wizards game versus the Charlotte Hornets, Dec. 14, 2016. Credit: Keith Allison/Flickr via Wikimedia Commons.

Avdija spoke with reporters in a car while en route to deliver Christmas presents. He spoke candidly about his time in D.C., as well as his teammates. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic, coupled with his personality, has made it difficult to experience his new hometown.

“I am not a party guy and am not going out a lot, but I enjoy having fun,” he relates. “I’m not experiencing it much right now because of COVID. The city is kind of closed. Hopefully, things will go back to normal.”

Still, Avdija is finding ways to experience American culture nonetheless. His first meal in the United States was at Chipotle, and in a playful series of Tweets, the Wizards acknowledged, “Yes, Deni was on Chick-fil-A duty,” purchasing food for his teammates. He is also getting practice driving, though he admits to not yet feeling confident behind the wheel.

And he’s enjoying getting to know his teammates. “Everybody’s good with me,” he says, a bit reluctant to name players he is closest to. When pressed, he added, “I can say two guys came from the same situation as me, Cassius Winston and Anthony Gill. Cassius came from college, and Anthony came from Europe. We need to be there for each other and support each other. I think we’re going to be great friends throughout the season.”

Avdija has so far sung “Happy Birthday” in Hebrew to a teammate and publicly lit Hanukkah candles. He acknowledges “talking a lot about the great things about Israel,” though feels he hasn’t yet “brought my culture” to the fore. He says he hopes to share “food, songs and habits” of Israel with his teammates soon.

For now, the hardworking player will return to practice. As he told Brooks and Westbrook before the recent Christmas event, “I have things to do. I want to do more shooting!”

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Read the original Article Published On The Jerusalem Post

The Brooklyn Nets have opened the National Basketball Association season at the Barclays Center (capacity: 17,732) in front of no fans. In contrast, Amar’e Stoudemire – the Nets’ new player development assistant and former NBA, Hapoel Jerusalem and Maccabi Tel Aviv star – performed in front of 2,000 fans on Monday night, December 21. The crowd assembled on Zoom for a UJA Federation New York-sponsored discussion, “Amar’e Stoudemire: His Practice On and Off the Court.”

The likable Stoudemire, a six-time NBA All-Star, NBA Rookie of the Year with the Phoenix Suns in 2003, and a bronze medalist with the USA Olympic basketball team in 2004, recently returned to New York after many years living in Israel. Stoudemire is a co-owner of the Hapoel Jerusalem basketball team and he was the playoff MVP for Maccabi Tel Aviv as it secured the 2020 Israeli championship.

Stoudemire is also a proud Jew, deeply committed to combating antisemitism, and works to strengthen relationships between the Jewish and African-American communities. He shared his intriguing journey to Judaism and Israel with the event attendees.
From a young age, Stoudemire’s mother said: “You should keep the laws of Moses. We are from the tribe of Israel, brought here [to the United States] as slaves.” Stoudemire admits that he “didn’t know what she meant by that.”

At age 14, he reported, “I started davening to the Torah.” He continued his Bible studies through high school and continued his studies when selected ninth overall in the NBA draft at the age of 18. When he was 24, he “began gravitating to Judaism. This is what I was searching for, but I was doing it on my own. Judaism gave me structure.

”Stoudemire first visited Israel in 2010.“I came to learn Torah and discover my Hebrew roots, to see what I was reading.”

Stoudemire was always intrigued by the prophets of the Hebrew Bible.

“I loved how they carried themselves and how they were righteous and wondered, ‘How do I get to that level?’ It was over for me. I was hooked.”

Stoudemire and family moved to Israel in 2015. Coming to Israel meant a drastic lifestyle change.

“It was a truly humbling experience. I went from traveling on an NBA private jet to using buses. I was an A-list celebrity who went to fashion shows, the Met Gala, Jimmy Kimmel and David Letterman. I was living the dream!”

Stoudemire feels the move to the Middle East was worth it.

“I made the decision for the sake of Torah.”

Stoudemire signed a two-year deal with Hapoel Jerusalem in 2016 and helped the club win the Israeli Basketball League Cup that year. In June 2017, he helped the team win the 2016/17 Israeli Basketball Super League. He retired briefly in 2017, considered a return to the NBA in 2018, only to return again to Hapoel Jerusalem for the 2018/19 campaign, when he had a standout season.

In 2019, Stoudemire signed with the Fujian Sturgeons of the Chinese Basketball Association and played 11 games before returning to the US.

In January 2020, Stoudemire was back in Israel, and signed with Maccabi Tel Aviv with whom he won the championship. When asked about his preference for Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, Stoudemire, who lived in Jerusalem for three years and Tel Aviv for one year, offered a thoughtful reply.

“Jerusalem is a great place. I was able to study and go to yeshiva on a consistent basis. And Shabbat is elevated 20 times in Jerusalem. Tel Aviv has a coastline with beaches, and beautiful places to hang out. And it is closer to basketball. I love both equally,” said Stoudemire diplomatically.

Stoudemire recently returned to the United States and was hired in October 2020 by Steve Nash, his former Suns teammate and the new head coach of the Nets.

Back in America, Stoudemire continues to be a proud, committed Jew and lover of Israel, and he is involved in combating antisemitism.

He reported that his Hebrew is “not bad,” noting that it is “a little rusty” but that “[I] can still carry my weight.”

He is founder of Diversity U, “an organization and educational platform I started based on eradicating antisemitism. It teaches the attributes of Torah.”

Before the start of the NBA season, he was living in Miami, where he is pursuing a master of business administration (MBA) degree at the University of Miami.

“I also learn Mishna and daven [pray] at the Miami Beach Kollel,” he reported.

Now in Brooklyn, he said he has “a couple of chavrusos [learning partners] in Flatbush, and I study Mishna online.”

In addition, he speaks fondly of his Zoom learning partners in Israel.

“They are hard-core – they stay up til 4 a.m. [Israel time] to learn with me.”

Stoudemire recently had the opportunity to see his old friend and teammate, Deni Avdija when the Nets and Washington Wizards faced each other at a December 13 NBA pre-season game. Israeli Avdija was recently drafted by the Washington Wizards in the ninth overall pick.

“My guy, Deni – we were both ninth picks – we share that. And we played together last year on the Maccabi Tel Aviv championship team. We have been close friends since then!”Avdija is fond of Stoudemire as well.

“Amar’e was a big part of me, a big part of my game. The amount of experience and knowledge he gave me is [through] the roof.”

Stoudemire is 38, old enough to be 19-year-old Avdija’s father.

“He was a professional. He always came first to the gym,” Avdija said. “We were always talking about things. I was always asking about the NBA and he always answered me, no matter what the time or no matter how tired he was or angry he was, he always sat with me and answered my questions.”

On Monday, Stoudemire was introduced to the UJA Zoom event by Ido Aharoni (Aronoff), Israel’s long-time consul-general in New York. Aharoni first met Stoudemire many years ago when he attended a New York Knicks game with Israel basketball legend Tal Brody.

The two became dear friends and Aharoni introduced Stoudemire to the late Prime Minister Shimon Peres. The Zoom crowd shared Aharoni’s positive feelings about Stoudemire. Aharoni described Stoudemire’s many professional, educational and charitable accomplishments in the US and Israel.

“He has a huge heart.”

And that is an attribute that always plays well, on or off the basketball court.

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Admittedly, the Abraham Accords and Israel’s exciting new relationship with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco is big news.  50,000 Israelis have reportedly traveled to UAE alone in recent months.  But the biggest feel-good Israel story coming out of Israel in recent weeks is… Deni Avdija!

For those who have been living under a rock—or simply don’t follow the National Basketball Association, Deni is a 6 foot 9-inch basketball player—only 19 years old—who was drafted #9 in the NBA draft by the Washington Wizards.  Avdija is the son of a Serbian Muslim father who played professional basketball both in Serbia and Israel, and an Israeli Jewish mother.  He played with Maccabi Tel Aviv and just completed his shortened Tzahal (Israel Army) service where he had the status of a “sports standout.” 

Following a very shortened NBA pre-season, where Deni was super successful, he stands a chance of being in the starting lineup in the Wizard’s first regular season game this Wednesday against the 76ers in Philadelphia.  Head Coach Scott Brooks has started him in 2 of 3 pre-season games, and watched him successfully play off the bench in the other game. He was nearly perfect in his first game—hitting several field goals and 3 point shots, and last night, he lead both teams in rebounds with 10.  Deni played 31 minutes and 38 seconds—more than any other Wizard including NBA legend, Russell Westbrook.   At last night’s post-game media session, Westbrook had only amazing things to say about Deni.  Westbrook has been acting like a coach and mentor to Deni.

It is remarkable how far Deni has come in such a short time.  I have enjoyed watching him and asking questions at the media sessions.   Yes—he will miss family, friends and the beach.  Yes, he will be in search of good Israeli chumous, which another reporter pointed out he can get very near to the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC. And yes—he is very young!  When I asked which of his NBA idols he was most looking forward to playing with or against, he said he didn’t have any actual idols, but he was looking forward to playing in person with guys he had only played against in video games!  Wow, that is young!

I am confident that Deni will have as much class as two previous Israelis who played in the NBA—Omri Casspi and Gal Mekel. They took the job of representing Israeli very seriously—signing autographs, participating in Jewish community events and, in the case of Omri, bringing fellow NBA players to Israel. 

I hope to write a lot about Deni this season—he is the best story coming out of Israel and he is great for Israel hasbara.  There is even a Washington Wizards Twitter feed in Hebrew!

The three articles I have written so far are here!

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