Sport

Original Article Published On The Jewish Telegraphic Agency

SUNRISE, Fla. (JTA) – It wasn’t Tel Aviv, but thousands of people chanting his name at a Davis Cup match following a grueling victory was a pretty good way for Israel’s Andy Ram to leave the game of tennis to which he had devoted more than half his life.

Ram, 34, and his longtime doubles partner, Yoni Erlich, had just outlasted the Argentine duo of Federico Delbonis and Horacio Zeballos in a five-set match on Saturday that lasted nearly three-and-a-half hours.

With Ram sprawled out on center court — on his back, in tears — the crowd waved Israeli flags and “Todah [Thank you] Andy Ram” signs in Hebrew and chanted “Andyoni” and “Tishaer [Stay],” suggesting that he put off the retirement he had announced recently.

His teammates, wearing “Todah Andy” shirts, surrounded Ram, hoisted him in the air and carried him off the court. They proceeded to dump an ice-filled bucket on his head.

He would stay on the court for 20 minutes signing autographs and posing for pictures.

At a news conference afterward, Ram talked about his actions following the match, with Erlich and coach Eyal Ran at his side.

“I ran out of energy,” he said. “Then, as I was looking up at the sky and the birds, I got very emotional. And I cried like a baby.

“I thought of my father who couldn’t be here. I thought of my mom who was here. I left home at 14 to play tennis. Most of our relationship was on the phone. It meant the world to me that she was here.”

The doubles victory had put underdog Israel ahead 2-1 in the team match, but Argentina took both singles matches the following day to advance in the international tournament.

Despite the thunderous reception — as well as the Hebrew music heard frequently during the changeovers — Ram and his Israeli teammates lamented that the match was not played in central Israel, as scheduled, rather than South Florida.

In July, the Argentine Tennis Association requested a change in venue from the Nokia Arena in Tel Aviv due to security concerns surrounding the conflict in Gaza. The International Tennis Federation informed Israel in August that the match had to be moved. Israel appealed but lost; it would have to serve as host in a different location.

The Sunrise Tennis Club was selected from among several options. Much of the crowd there backed the Israelis, with a section of Argentines clad in light blue and white shirts rooting on their guys.

“We are playing here in the U.S.; it is a good feeling and yet it is not the best feeling,” Ram told JTA on Friday. “It was supposed to be in Israel. I wanted to play in front of my home crowd.”

His teammate, Dudi Sela, was a little more direct.

“The ITF made a mistake,” Sela told JTA. “We were looking forward to playing in front of 11,000 people cheering for Israel.”

Asi Touchmair, the chair of the Israel Tennis Association, noted in a statement that Israel has hosted the Davis Cup during times of war and military operations without having to move the matches.

Despite the distance and the logistics difficulties involved, Touchmair said, “we decided to play the Davis Cup in South Florida due to the warm and welcoming relationship that Israel receives from the United States, and where an atmosphere of a ‘home away from home’ will be experienced by our Israel Davis Cup team.”

Among those who made the trek to Sunrise was Andrea Eidman, an Argentine sports journalist who came from Buenos Aires.

“People asked me, who do you cheer for? And honestly, I didn’t care!” she said.

Eidman added, “For me, being present at that tennis court … with the Hebrew music going on and on, with the Israeli flags, the ‘Hatikvah,’ the shofar — it was a party from beginning to end!”

Ram, sitting in the stands on Friday with Erlich, 37, and cheering on his teammates during singles’ matches, told JTA he had no problem looking toward the future.

“I try to put it behind me, like in the past,” he said. “I am the kind of guy who is always thinking, ‘What’s next?’

“It was fun. It was a good time. Next is to focus on my kids [aged 5 and 7]. To see them growing, to be great athletes. To find myself, my way.”

Ram and Erlich – natives of Uruguay and Argentina, respectively — reached as high as No. 5 in the world doubles rankings. They advanced to 36 finals and won 20 of them, including the 2008 Australian Open. Ram also won the Wimbledon mixed doubles in 2006 and the French Open mixed doubles in 2007.

Ram is particularly proud of his Davis Cup record of 19-5 following the one final victory – achieved despite pulling muscle in his left leg late in the fifth set.

“I sent Jonathan on a suicide mission,” Ram joked. “He said, ‘Just get the serves in. I will do the rest.’ ”

Erlich’s particularly strong volleys powered the duo in the final set in 91-degree heat.

Ram spoke of his partnership with Ehrlich.

“When we go on court together, magic happens. We communicate. We know what the other one will do,” Ram said.

Erlich offered, “We had motivation, energy and a lot of belief.”

Eidman summed up what much of the crowd was likely feeling on seeing Ram’s finale.

“I felt like crying when Andy Ram said goodbye to tennis,” she said, noting that the Argentina team’s Jewish captain, Martin Jaite, was playing in his final match, too.

Eidman also said, “I would have loved to travel to eretz Israel instead of America. … It hurt my heart not to go to Israel because of the war.”

But, Ram said, “11,000 people screaming Andyoni is amazing!”

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Dudi Sela updates on team composition and morale following his first round US Open win

NEW YORK — Fans of Israel tennis gathered yesterday at the US Open to watch Israelis in action in back to back matches on court 13. Shahar Peer lost in three tough sets to Croation Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2. But Dudi Sela, ranked 83 in the world, came from behind after dropping the first set in 17 quick minutes, to defeat Argentinian Carlos Berlocq, 63 in the world, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5.

Sela closed out the match after a disputed call on match point. On Friday Sela plays the second match of the day at the Louis Armstrong Stadium at 1 pm against Grigor Dmitrov, the 7th seeded. Dmitrov has twice beaten Sela in previous match-ups. This is their first time playing together on a hard court.

After the 2 hour, 43 minute match Thursday, the good-natured Sela signed many autographs and spoke to an unusually large gathering of media at the near midnight press conference.

Members of the Argentinian media inquired about the upcoming Israel versus Argentina Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie, September 12-14, 2014. The Davis Cup matches, scheduled to be played in Israel, were recently relocated to the Sunrise Tennis Club in Sunrise, Florida (USA) due to the lengthy Operation Protective Edge and rockets shot into Israel.

Sela said Israel’s Davis Cup team will consist of Sela, Andy Ram, Jonathan Erlich and Amir Weintraub.

Given Weintraub’s injury, there was speculation that he might not play. There was also speculation that Ram would only play if the Davis Cup was held in Israel.

“Ram and Erlich are playing together and have been practicing every day. Jonathan didn’t get in to the US Open, though he wanted to,” said Sela.

Sela reports Weintraub is recovering well. “Amir hits the ball very hard, has a good serve and can be aggressive… Hopefully he can win his match. He has the support of the team behind him.”

Israel has also named 18-year-old Tal Goldengoren, 696 in world, and 20-year-old, Bar Botzer, 742 in the world, to the Davis Cup team as reserves.

While Sela acknowledges Argentina is favored to win, he notes, “We have a chance. We will be 100% fit and we will give 100%. We will have a lot of support.”

“There are a lot of Jewish people who will come from Florida and Israelis may come down from New York,” said Sela, who feels the move to Florida was “a fair decision.” He admits regretfully, however, “if it was in Israel, it would be unbelievable. Every match is full of people!”

Israel faces Argentina for the first time since 1990 in this World Group play-off tie. Argentina won the two previous meetings.

 (Source: http://www.timesofisrael.com)

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Original Article in The New York Jewish Week

In many ways, it was just another awesome day at the U.S. Open.

Leander Paes and his partner won the mens’ doubles final; Serena Williams, won the womens’ championship; a boy from Croatia became the junior singles champion, while a 15-year-old with the first name “Tornado,” would narrowly miss an upset win of the junior girls’ championship.

And on courts 7 and 11, equally talented athletes with lesser-known names were also gearing up for two more finals, both in wheelchair tennis. In many ways, wheelchair tennis is just a regular part of the US Open. At the same time, it’s quite extraordinary.

Some background, courtesy of a sign outside court 7: “Wheelchair Tennis began in California in 1976. Since then, it has grown to be played on six of the seven continents and, currently, there are more than 170 tennis tournaments on the wheelchair professional tour. The US Open Wheelchair Competition was established in 2005 … The Men’s and Women’s division athletes have disabilities in their lower extremities only and are classified by gender. Quad division athletes have disabilities in their lower and upper extremities and are classified based on disability, not gender. It is one of the only sports in which you may see men and women competing against each other on equal terms.”

Each wheelchair tennis player has his or her unique story. As a credentialed journalist (I also covered the Open for the Times of Israel), I am lucky enough to learn more about these athletes when I receive a copy of the 2013 U.S. Open Tennis Championship Wheelchair Tennis Competition Media Guide, as well as a supplemental packet of player biographies.

On court 7, I saw the #2 seed, Stephane Houdet of France, and the #1 seed, Shingo Kuneida of Japan, preparing for their match, which Houdet won.

Houdet, who has two sets of twins and a veterinary degree, started to play tennis at the age of 8, then again at the age of 34 – ten years after his motorbike accident. Kuneida played tennis recreationally from ages 11 to 16 and then learned to play wheelchair tennis after becoming paralyzed by spine tumor surgery.

In wheelchair tennis, “preparing,” means transferring from regular wheelchairs to specially designed game chairs (large angled wheels, two small wheels in front, one small wheel in back), checking air in their tires, strapping themselves in to their chairs and putting in mouth guards. While wheelchair tennis has chair umpires, line judges and ball persons, each player has his or her own method of storing balls—in their laps, in a bag behind the chair, or in their spokes.

Court 11 hosted the Quad Singles Final is about to begin, with Lucas Sithole of Johannesburg battling #1 seed David Wagner of the United States. Wagner had been a college tennis player before a water accident 18 years ago.

“Let’s go, Wags!” cheer his buddies, many of them also in wheelchairs. Sithole, who was injured in a railway accident as a child, is “currently the highest ranked triple amputee on the wheelchair tennis rankings.”

The left-hander is an incredible athlete, using his partial right arm to help guide his chair as he races to each ball. Sithole stuns Wagner, upsetting him: 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Tennis fans like me returned home that Sunday having experienced quite an impressive scene — one of true inclusion. Tennis has found a way to naturally include athletes who have both disabilities and extraordinary abilities.

I wonder if tennis fans know that wheelchair tennis boasts a unique statistic: Esther Vergeerretired from wheelchair tennis last February with an active singles win streak of 470 matches. The last match she lost was ten years before her retirement, in January, 2003. Now, that’s an athlete we can all strive to emulate.

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With a cadre of middle-aged Jewish male fans, feisty Sharon Fichman is hopeful for her upcoming women’s doubles match

FLUSHING MEADOWS, New York — On the court at the US Open in Flushing Meadows, 22-year-old Canadian Sharon Fichman is a hard-hitting, feisty, grunting right-handed baseliner who packs a lot of punch into her 5 foot, 4 inch (1.63 meters) frame. Her fighting spirit and determination helped the number two seed as she battled through three matches in the US Open qualifying tournament last week.

There, Fichman earned one of the 128 coveted spots in the US Open 2013 Women’s draw, unlike Israeli star Shahar Peer, the number one seed in the “qualies,” who lost her first round match in straight sets to Russian Ksenia Pervak 6-4, 7-6 and did not make the main draw for singles. Peer will play doubles with Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain.

At a career-high rank of 95 in the world, and despite being relatively unknown outside of her native Canada, Fichman attracts a small group of loyal followers. These mostly middle-aged Jewish men from New York city chant courtside, “Go, Sharon!” throughout her matches and appear to know a great deal about the Jewish players and coaches represented at the US Open.

One Fichman fan sees my Times of Israel media credentials, grabs the daily schedule of matches from my hands, and points out all players with a Jewish connection: “Julia Cohen is half Jewish; Camille Giorgi is Jewish; Youzny is maybe a quarter Jewish but his Russian coach is a proud Jew…” Nachas.

Fichman’s own parents are not in the crowd; she matter-of-factly reports in a post-match interview that her nuclear engineer father, Bobby, and computer engineer mother, Julia, have already used up their vacation time.

Fichman was born in Toronto in 1990, where she was also raised, but is currently training in Vancouver with coach Larry Jurovich. Her Romanian-born parents moved to Israel in 1982, then to Canada in 1989. Fichman began playing tennis at age 6.

“I come from a tennis family — my dad played in the nationals in Romania, my mother loved playing tennis recreationally and my older brother, Thomas, plays tennis. We had a club near our house and I was good at tennis right away.”

In 2004, when she was 13, Fichman won the prestigious Orange Bowl juniors title and was the world’s number two player in her age group. The same year she was Canada’s under-18 Indoor and Outdoor National girls champion. By 14 she had won the gold medal for tennis singles at the 17th Maccabiah Games, where she also won a silver in mixed doubles and a bronze in women’s doubles.

“I got really sick when the week of the Maccabiah Games started,” she vividly recalls.

Fichman has been to Israel many times. “I really love Israel — it is an amazing place. I have dual citizenship, and I have lots of family — aunts, uncles, cousins and nephews in Israel.”

She had a very successful 2006 with doubles victories in both the junior Australian and French opens; she reached the quarter finals in singles and the finals in doubles at the junior US Open later that year. In October of 2006, Fichman began beating some of the world’s top ranked players including Hana Sromova (114).

Fichman turned pro in 2007 and managed to defeat the world’s #90, Stephanie Cohen-Aloro. Later, in 2012, Fichman’s competed in Challenger tournaments and her rankings began to climb — from 239 in July to 153 in December.

Most recently, Fichman has achieved some success in her native Canada

Most recently, She has achieved some success in her native Canada. At the Rogers Cup in Toronto earlier this month, Fichman, then ranked 104, reached the second round in singles and made it to the semifinals for doubles.

With a career win/lost record of 234 and 148, she has earned $85,383 so far this year, with a career net of $338,643.

Following Fichman’s three wins in the US Open qualifiers, she faced Romanian Sorana Cirstea, ranked 22 in the world and the tournament’s 19th seed.

Asked in a post-match interview about facing another player of Romanian descent in the first round, she playfully said, “I’ve known Sorana since we were 11 years old. We’ve played so many times. We met at age 13 or 14 in the finals at the Orange Bowl — it’s not weird at all. We grew up together and we’re friends.”

Cirstea defeated Fichman 7-5, 5-7, 6-1.

“I had a lot of opportunities but I didn’t connect on the break points. I felt I played pretty well for the most part.”

Fichman is intensely focused on her tennis career, which often requires 35 to 40 weeks of travel per year.

“It’s hard to find another passion when I am in one,” she said, but speaks of her love for cooking and baking, the outdoors (walks, hiking and fishing) and of possible future professional interests including business, finance, real estate, and interior design.

But for now, it’s back to tennis. Despite her loss in the singles, Fichman and fellow Canadian Aleksandra Wosniack are in the main draw for  the US Open women’s doubles, where Fichman is currently ranked 89 in the world. (Fichman and Wosniack were scheduled to face wildcards Allie Kiick and Sachia Vickery, both of the United States, on Wednesday, but the match was postponed due to rain.)

Fichman is optimistic. “This is the best I’ve done as a pro — the best is yet to come!”

(Source: http://www.timesofisrael.com)


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