tennis

Original Article Published at The Jerusalem Post

Shelly Krolitzky’s dream run in New York came to an end on Wednesday in the second round of the junior girls’ singles at the US Open.

After winning two matches in the qualifiers and coming through the first round of the main draw, the 17-year-old Israeli was stopped by No. 5 seed Kayla Day of the USA, losing 6-4, 6-3.

Despite being ranked 70 places below her opponent, Krolitzky gave Day a real run for her money before succumbing after one hour and 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, Yshai Oliel has a script for winning matches in the junior boys’ tournament: Go down a set, easily win the second and fight with all of his might in the third set to win the match.

Oliel battled Alex De Minaur of Australia, the tournament’s second seed, on a cloudy Flushing Meadows morning with wind gusts up to 30 MPH.

De Minaur took the first set 6-4. Oliel easily won the second 6-2. In the decisive hour long third set, Oliel fended off match point, rallied to 6-6 and won 7-2 in the tie breaker.

Oliel surely noticed the wind but did not change his strokes to compensate.

“It was hard to play in the wind, but I am happy I didn’t focus on it. If I focused on it, I wouldn’t be able to do anything,” he told The Jerusalem Post.

The usually modest, soft-spoken Oliel was proud of his victory. “I deserved to win. I wanted to win more than him.”

Oliel’s mental toughness helped him defeat the recent boys’ Wimbledon singles’ finalist, even when he was trailing.

“I was down 4-1 then 5-2 in the first set and had a chance to come back to 5-all but my serve was no good. He broke me and then I started fighting and kept fighting. I told myself to keep fighting and try my best and it will be fine.”

Coach Jan Pochter offered similar advice from the stands. “I heard him say to keep fighting, try to be aggressive. Try your best.”

The fight paid off. Oliel moves on to the third round and faces 13th seed Nicola Kuhn of Spain.

Oliel’s usual script changed somewhat unexpectedly at the end of the match. Ordinarily, Oliel returns to the locker room to shower and eat.

On Tuesday, admiring fans cheered and asked Oliel to sign autographs and pose for selfies. Members of the media requested two separate press conferences.

And Oliel learned that his doubles match with partner Zizou Bergs of Belgian was unexpectedly moved earlier due to a walkover in the previous match.

Following a slight rain delay, Oliel and Bergs easily defeated No. 8 seeds Eduard Guell Bartrina of Spain and Genaro Alberto Olivieri of Argentina 6-2, 6-2 in 52 minutes. They faced the American doubles team of Oliver Crawford and Patrick Kypson on Wednesday.

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Original Article Published at The Jerusalem Post

Oliel next faces No. 13 seed Nicola Kuhn of Spain for a place in the quarterfinals.

Yshai Oliel continued to show why he is touted as the future of Israeli tennis on Tuesday, advancing to the last 16 of the US Open Junior Boys’ tournament with a 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(2) victory over No. 2 seed Alex De Minaur of Australia.

The 16-year-old Israeli saved a match point in the 10th game of the third set and clinched the win after two hours and two minutes.

Oliel, who made a name for himself by capturing both the 12s and 14s titles at the prestigious Junior Orange Bowl International in Florida, is currently ranked No. 39 among juniors, but proved he can compete with the very best against No. 2 De Minaur, who is at No. 614 in the senior rankings.

Oliel next faces No. 13 seed Nicola Kuhn of Spain for a place in the quarterfinals.

Late Monday, it took Shelly Krolitzky only 56 minutes to win her first round junior girls’ singles match.

Strong ground strokes and mental toughness helped Krolitzky cruise to a 6-2, 6-1 victory over American Abigail Desiatnikov, who had previously defeated Krolitzky at the Eddie Herr International Tennis Championship in Bradenton, Florida, this past December.

Krolitzky wasn’t pleased with her performance in her last match against Desiatnikov and vowed to do better.

“It wasn’t my best match. I told myself that this time, I would take every opportunity and take every chance,” the 17-year-old told The Jerusalem Post.

This time, Krolitzky controlled the game, occasionally moving to the net on strong serves.

Krolitzky was extremely pleased with her display in the first round.

“It is an amazing feeling. It is my first Grand Slam. I felt really good in the match and in the warm up before the match. I felt really energetic.”

Krolitzky appeared calm, happy and not particularly tired during the postmatch interview and her mental state was a key factor in her match success.

“I was thinking a lot about this match and meditated a lot beforehand.”

Krolitzky’s coach, Israel veteran Tzipi Obziler – who wasn’t able to accompany Krolitzky to New York – is very proud.

“Shelly is a very talented player, an athlete with strong capabilities. She has made great progress recently, and I hope to see her continue to advance in the junior rankings, play the main draw of Grand Slams and soon begin to play and make progress on the women’s tour. For me it is an honor to be part of the David Squad and to have the opportunity to work individually with Shelly.”

Despite the rigors of playing in a Grand Slam event, Krolitzky is managing to see a little of New York City.

“We went to Chinatown yesterday.

We saw a lot of Israeli people. I didn’t eat anything, but Yshai [Oliel] wanted to buy a watch.”


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Original Article Published at The Jerusalem Post

By the time Yshai Oliel clawed his way back to 2-2 in the third set of the first-round match in the Junior Boys’ singles tournament at the US Open versus Juan Carlos Manuel Aguilar of Bolivia, court 14 felt and sounded like countryman Dudi Sela’s first-round US Open thriller.

Oliel lost the first set 6-4 in 41 minutes and battled back to quickly take the second set in 19 minutes. Chants of “Yallah, Yshai,” “Kadima” and “let’s go, Yshai” from the packed stands turned to “mazal tovs” and requests for autographs when Oliel, down 2-0 in the third, closed out Aguilar 6-2 in the 29 minute third and final set.

Oliel certainly noticed the fans cheering for him. “I am proud of all the Israeli people and Jews who come to see us and cheer today.”

Oliel spoke with The Jerusalem Post in the US Open media center minutes after his match. “I feel very good and happy. I am excited.” Oliel reflected on the match and on his very successful year which includes winning the junior doubles title at the French Open. “I fought during the long match today. I still need to improve. To play more aggressive.”

Oliel feels he need to work on his volleys and to be more aggressive to achieve his goal of rising in the rankings.

Coach Jan Pochter, who has worked with Oliel since age 4, is similarly proud, though he acknowledges that Oliel got off to a slow start.

“He started nervous and tight and wasn’t his best. The other guy was aggressive and went for shots. Mentally, he was very tight. Then Yshai began to play much more aggressive and his opponent couldn’t match his rhythm.

He asked for a medical time out (perhaps a tactic to stop Yshai, who was in the zone), then Yshai came back. He lost two games, but still felt it was his match. I told him to concentrate and do your best and he did it.”

Pochter feels Oliel has tremendous potential. “He is one of the best players in the tournament, though mentally he has ups and towns. If he plays smooth, he will win.”

Oliel next faces No. 2 seed Alex De Minaur of Australia.

“If he plays his best, he has a good chance to win,” said Pochter.

Pochter is accompanying and coaching Israeli juniors Oliel and Shelly Krolitzky at the US Open. Both are members of the David Squad, an elite training organization which seeks to develop and train Israeli tennis players to be successful at the highest levels of international competition.

“I am proud to be a part of David Squad, I am proud of the team, and I appreciate David Coffer, who sponsors us,” said Oliel. “I hope I will be able to give him back all that he expects.”

“Without the David Squad, we would not get to the tournaments and get to the next level,” notes Pochter.

“This is a present for Israeli tennis that we have special people like David and Adam Coffer [David’s son]. It is like winning the lottery for these kids.”

Adam Coffer is proud of Oliel and the David Squad team.

“Yshai is an exceptional talent with a fantastic attitude. We are always so proud of him and the team. This is the natural progression reflecting the years of hard work he and all our team have put in. His and Shelly’s progress also sets the right example for the extremely talented younger kids we have coming through the DS family. But it is not our or their end goal – there are many more, higher, targets ahead for him.”

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Original Article Published at The Jerusalem Post

Shelly Krolitzky, 17, is the first Israeli female in the main draw of the US Open junior tournament since Julia Glushko in 2007.

As the massive US Open crowds shuffled in at on Friday morning for a coveted spot in Louis Armstrong Stadium and the Grandstand, a few dozen spectators gathered outside the 20 little known practice courts in Flushing Meadows.

The first round of boys and girls qualifiers got under way, with 32 boys and 32 girls battling for eight spots in each main draw of the US Open Junior Championships.

Israeli Shelly Krolitzky got off to a slow start, then easily defeated Rafaella Baquerizo of Ecuador, 6-4, 6-0.

In a match interview outside the practice court, the 17-year-old from Azur, told The Jerusalem Post: “I had a little pressure on myself in the first set. I felt a little heavy on the court and it was hard to move. When I was down 4-1, I tried to loosen my hand and make it stronger. Then, I got in to the match.”

Krolitzky built on the victory by beating American Vanessa Ong 6-4, 7-5 in the second round of the qualifiers on Saturday, advancing to the main draw of a Grand Slam junior event for the first time. She will face American Abigail Desiatnikov next.

Krolitzky comes to New York from Canada, where she reached the second round in a juniors tournament.

She is accompanied at the US Open by Jan Pochter, who primarily serves as coach for Israeli junior, Yshai Oliel, who is in the main boys draw.

Oliel and Krolitzky are both members of the David Squad, an elite training organization of young Israeli tennis players. Krolitzky’s coach is not with her at the US Open. Her family is not able to accompany her either.

This has been a very busy tennis year for Krolitzky.

“I played most of year in junior’s tournaments on clay. I am now starting to play Futures ($10,000) tournaments, mostly in Israel but may start in a few weeks to play abroad.”

Krolitzky is also a member of Israel’s Fed Cup Team.

“The Fed Cup experience was amazing. I played doubles against Ukraine. It was a tough match. Even though I didn’t play singles, it was amazing how much I learned from watching all the players, like how Julia [Glushko] and Shahar [Peer] worked before, during and after each match.”

While Krolitzky has accomplished a great deal, she is still very much a teenager. She keeps in touch with friends and family members through WhatsApp and reads romance novels and plays card games with fellow players while on the road.

Krolitzky is entering the 12th grade and plans to serve in the army after graduation. Her busy tennis life makes schooling difficult at times.

“I try to go as much as I can,” notes Krolitzky playfully. “I go to a democratic school, so it is easier – I come, get what I miss, do a lot at home.”

Krolitzky plans to turn pro after her army service. Her tennis heroes include Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

“I really love Serena Williams. She is a great model. Nadal as well. I really love him. I love many players. Each player has stuff I can learn from.

With Djokovic, everything he does is fixed. Serena, her mentality is amazing. It is amazing to be here and see them.”

This is Krolitzky’s first trip to New York and she has thus far enjoyed exploring Times Square and Fifth Avenue.

If Krolitzky beats Desiatnikov in the first round of the main draw she will get to stay in New York even longer.

Yshai Oliel extended his stay at Flushing Meadows on Sunday with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 win over Juan Carlos Manuel Aguilar of Bolivia. Oliel next faces boys’ No. 2 seed Alex De Minaur of Australia.



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