Sport

NEW HAVEN — For two Jewish tennis players, New Haven is a great place to stop by on the road to the U.S. Open. American Jesse Levine, the 106th ranked mens player in the world, and Israeli Dudi Sela, ranked 75, spent last week at the Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament at Yales Connecticut Tennis Center in New haven, before heading off to New York to take their place in the main mens draw in the U.S. Open, which kicked off on Aug. 25.

Levine, 20, was born in Ottawa, Canada and moved with his family to Boca Raton, Fla. when he was thirteen, training at the Chris Evert Tennis Academy and at the Bollettieri Academy. The 5 9 Levine attended the Hillel Academy, a Jewish day school in Canada. He keeps a kosher home, often wears a Magen David around his neck. His successful juniors career included winning the Wimbledon doubles championship in 2005, and reaching the quarterfinals in singles that same year. Levine briefly attended the University of Florida in 2007, where he was 24-1, but withdrew in August 2007 to turn professional.He moved up in the rankings from 483 a year ago, to his current rank of 106. This year, he advanced to the second round at both Wimbledon and the Australian Open, and he won a Challenger event at Bradenton, Fla.

Levine was lucky in New Haven. He did not initially secure a spot in the main mens draw; Levine, playing sick in the qualifying rounds, was ousted in the second round of the qualifiers. Once Juan Martin Del Porto withdrew from the tournament, Levine was given a lucky loser spot, which entitled him to a spot in the main draw and a bye in the opening round. He went on to win his second round match against Spains Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-0, 6-3. Levines luck continued in the third round when Steve Darcis of Belgium withdrew due to back problems. He advanced to the quarter finals against American Mardy Fish, number 35 in the world. While Levine was defeated 6-3, 7-6, he was delighted to make it to his first quarterfinals of a major tournament. Jesse is a good young junior with a bright future, noted Fish.

Levine has enjoyed his involvement with Israeli players and members of various Jewish communities while on the professional tour.I have a lot of contact with the Israeli players, like Ram, Erlich, Sela and Levy. They sometimes ask me when I will play for Israel in the Davis Cup, he said.

He also appreciates the Jewish fans who cheer for him. At the tournament in Washington last week, they cheered and said things like, Come on, man, your opponent hasnt even had his bar mitzvah yet!

Israelis Moving Up
While Israeli Noam Okun lost in the qualifying rounds and did not make it in to the Pilot Pen main draw, Israeli Dudi Sela, won his first round match against American Donald Young, 6-4, 6-2. Sela lost in the second round to hard hitting left hander, Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.

Sela, the first Israeli man in seven years to break in to the top 100, is proud to represent Israel in tournaments around the world. And he has enjoyed the support he receives from Jewish communities around the world. It is always very good to see Jews supporting me. I won a recent tournament in Vancouver because the Jewish community came out to support me! he said. Sela, and fellow Israelis Andy Ram, Yoni Erlich, and 24th-seededShahar Peer will play in the upcoming U.S. Open.

Though upset that he was not invited to play for Israel in the Olympics, Sela is particularly proud of his two recent matches in the David Cup which each lasted more than five hours and resulted in victories against Chile.

It was a very good experience for me, and for my career – hey were my biggest wins so far, and they gave me a big push he said.

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Bruce Beck had to sing in order to get a world exclusive with Israel’s only Olympic Gold medalist.

Every Jewish man remembers his bar mitzvah. Some even remember parts of their haftarah. Rarely does this ‘feat’ get them anywhere in life. Not the case for New York’s NBC TV sports anchor and reporter, Bruce Beck. Bruce grew up in Livingston, New Jersey, 25 miles southwest of Manhattan. Following a traditional, pretty much unremarkable, bar mitzvah in 1969, he attended Ithaca College in upstate New York and became a sports broadcaster. Beck has been the weekend sports anchor for News 4 New York for the past 11 years. As part of Beck’s “dream job,” he has covered Super Bowl XLII, the World Series, the NBA finals, the Stanley Cup Finals, The US Open Tennis Championship, the US Open Golf Championship, the NCAA Final Four and the Kentucky Derby. Nothing, however, he maintains, compares to his’s coverage of the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, when windsurfer Gal Friedman became the first Israeli to ever win an Olympic gold medal. “I was down at the windsurfing venue trying to get an interview,” reports Beck. “The way it works is that you wait in the mixed zone, a little control area behind fences, with all of the international reporters.”

Beck was waiting patiently when all reporters were told that Gal Friedman would not be coming through the mixed zone. After the 1972 Munich massacre, Israeli athletes simply do not grant en-masse interviews. But Beck was determined. He called Jerusalem and got a hold of Israel’s press liaison in an attempt to find out where in Athens the Israeli delegation was staying. He was then given the name of the local Israeli press secretary in Greece. After a lot of schmoozing, and his revelation of the fact that he was Jewish, the pleasant, persistent reporter was given the name of the hotel. When Beck arrived at the location, the prospects of meeting Friedman seemed slim. Again, all the reporters were waiting behind a fence. “I just needed to get in to interview Friedman. What could I do? I couldn’t speak or read Hebrew very well. I wasn’t a very good Hebrew school student. But I have a very good memory. I am a reporter. And to this day, I remembered my entire haftarah by heart. “So I started singing my haftarah, the special one for Machar Chodesh – the lovely story of David and Jonathan – for the Israeli press secretary. He was so moved that he said, ‘Bruce, come in, we want you to talk to Gal.'” And Beck got the exclusive – he was the only reporter in the world granted access to Gal Friedman. “Gal knew the whole story. He knew that I sang for the press secretary. He laughed. We talked about Munich, the fight for survival of Jews in their homeland, what it would be like to hear Hatikvah that night as he received his gold medal, etc.”

Beck looks back fondly on the story as a rare moment when a reporter’s religious background actually opened an important door, and when the reporter became part of his own story. “Journalists from all around the world wanted to know why Gal Friedman was such a big story, and how I was picked to interview him.”

“Here I was in Athens, Greece – 4,500 miles from home, in the cradle of Western Civilization – never prouder to be an American – never prouder to be a Jew.”

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Original Article Published on The Jerusalem Post

The eyes of the world are on the Boston Red Sox who are currently playing in baseball’s World Series against the Colorado Rockies. Star first baseman Kevin Youkilis was the subject of an amusing exchange last season between comedians Denis Leary and Lenny Clarke and the Red Sox announcers – all in the booth covering a Red Sox game. “That guy Youkilis is he Greek? Irish? No he’s Jewish!”; Another Boston athlete has been the source of some confusion this tennis season. “Amir Hadad – I didn’t know he was Jewish! I thought he was an Arab several Jewish sports fans reported, somewhat embarrassed. They did, however, note the irony of a Jew playing on a team named The Lobsters.”

Israeli tennis player Amir Hadad was one of five players on the co-ed Boston Lobsters World Team Tennis (WTT) team. World Team Tennis co-founded by Billie Jean King in 1974 features 11 teams from across the United States. Teams play a 14 ‘match’ season in the month of July. Unlike conventional first-to-six games sets (with winners being first to reach two or three sets) a WTT ‘set’ is the first player or team to win five games. A ‘match’ features five events – men’s singles women’s singles men’s doubles women’s doubles and mixed doubles. The winner of the match is the team to win the most games.

The six foot 185 pound right hander was born in Ramle and currently lives in Budapest with his wife of 10 years and their three-year-old daughter. Most of the Hadad family still lives in Israel and Amir reports that he plans to return to live in Israel in the future.

Hadad played for WTT’s St. Louis Aces in 2003 and 2004 and for the Boston Lobsters in 2006 and 2007. Hadad always enjoys the support he receives from the Jewish community while on the road. “The Jewish community is always so nice and supportive. I don’t spend so much time in Israel and it is tough to be away from home – and it is nice to come across Hebrew speakers on the road,” he says.

Hadad spent many years training at the Wingate Institute, where he frequently played with Israeli tennis players Andy Ram, Yoni Erlich, and Harel Levy. “We grew up there – Andy Yoni Harel and me,” notes Hadad, fondly recalling his days at Wingate. Hadad had hoped to meet up with Ram and Erlich during the WTT season – both were scheduled to play for the St. Louis Aces. Unfortunately they didn’t arrive in time for the Aces match against the Lobsters. Andy Ram and I spoke on the phone for an hour and a half.

Hadad 29 turned pro in 1995. He reached a career highest ranking of 87 (for doubles) in 2003 and a career highest of 180 for singles in the same year. He is currently ranked 842 in singles and 920 for doubles. Thus far in 2007 Hadad has reached the semifinals in two Futures tournaments. While Hadad has earned only slightly more than $20 this year he has earned a total of $248,588 during his 12 year professional tennis career.

In past years Hadad has qualified for several prestigious tournaments including Wimbledon, the French Open and the US Open. In 1999 Hadad lost in the first round in the Wimbledon singles tournament. In the 2002 French Open he lost in the second round. Hadad is perhaps best known around the world for playing doubles in the 2002 Wimbledon tournament with Aisam Ul-Haq Quereshi, a Pakistani Muslim. The pair reached the third round at Wimbledon after upsetting the 11th seeds in the second round.

While Hadad and Quereshi never intended to make a statement by teaming up, their pairing made international news. The Pakistani Sports Board threatened to ban Quereshi for teaming with an Israeli Jew. In contrast Hadad received support from his fellow citizens and his government. In time the Pakistani government’s threat was rescinded and Quereshi was invited to join Pakistan’s Davis Cup team. Quereshi interviewed this summer after a grueling day of both singles and doubles at the Campbell’s Tennis Championships at Newport Rhode Island said he was proud of his partnership with Hadad at Wimbledon.

“We teamed up to do well not for the image he said. Quereshi is proud of his decision to play with Hadad and feels, You don’t mix politics and religion with sports.” Hadad still feels warmly toward Quereshi and affectionately tells the story of how they began playing together. “We played against each other twice and I beat him both times. The third time I asked him if he wanted to join me. We had one thing in common – tennis. We played great together and we have fun on and off the court.” Quereshi and Hadad clearly shared more than a love for tennis. Hadad reports that at tournaments the two stayed in the same hotel, ate all their meals together, hung out before the matches, practiced together and met each other’s families. “They are nice people. They are the same like us and they are comfortable to be around,” he said.

Following their success at Wimbledon, the two decided to team up again at the 2002 US Open. They were awarded a wild card by the tournament and won their first-round match. In February 2003 both were awarded the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award. I found out about it while at a tournament – the Belgrade Challenger – when an umpire came up to me and told me. I didn’t know how prestigious it was. Then I found out that people like Agassi Edberg Roddick and Nelson Mandela had received it. I have the trophy in my house says Hadad. Receiving the award was a great honor echoes Quereshi.

Both men hold firm in their convictions that sports transcends politics and religion. Hadad adds, “Everybody can connect through sports. The religion of the player doesn’t matter.”

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