US Open

The Original Article Published On The Jerusalem Post

“The Jerusalem Post” spoke to tennis star Madison Brengle about her first round of the US Open and religion.

NEW YORK – With Shahar Peer’s retirement in February after reaching a career high No. 11 tennis ranking in 2011 and Julia Glushko’s fall from a high of 79 in 2014 to her current slot at 252, Jewish tennis fans are left to wonder just how many women occupy the top 100.

American Madison Brengle No. 81 spoke to The Jerusalem Post about her 6-2, 6-3 loss to Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium in the first round of the US Open, and about religion. Asked about being the only Jew in the top 100, she quickly interrupted.

“Isn’t Giorgi? She is in the top 100? There is a Jewish reporter who hunts down me and Camila [Italian Camila Giorgi No. 69], so I just assumed…”

Other top 100 players with unconfirmed Jewish roots include Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (4) and Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland (28).

Brengle, born and raised in Dover, Delaware notes that her mother is Jewish and her father is not.

“My brother and I feel like we kind of double dipped – we just did a bit of everything – we called it double dipping.”

While she and her brother “went to a little bit of religious school,” travel and tournaments got in the way of celebrating bat mitzva. Brengle reports, “We do Hanukka, but we are super casual.”

Brengle has not yet been to Israel, though she is good friends with Julia Glushko. We have been friends since age 10. We have known each other forever. She is really cool.”

Perhaps Brengle can help her good friend climb back in to the Jewish Top-100 club.

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The Original Article Published On The Jerusalem Post

If the 800 hot dogs sold on Day 1 of the US Open is an indicator, it is going to be a great two weeks in Queens.

NEW YORK – Day 2 at the US Open featured suspension of play for rain and ultimately cancellation of all matches not taking place in Arthur Ashe Stadium, with its retractable roof.

Still, the rain didn’t stop the crowd from braving lines of twenty minutes or more at the Kosher Grill.

“I’ll wait five minutes then move on!” said Adriana of Westchester who clearly waited much longer for a sausage- and-peppers sandwich.

“A classic move!” she noted.

Sarah and Moshe, a religious couple from Riverdale, hosting Israeli relatives, braved the line for two pretzels and three pastrami sandwiches.

Clearly not everyone in line was there for the kosher food.

“There is the perception that kosher meat is better meat,” noted one patron.

He very well may be right. Jon Katz, of Englewood, New Jersey, operates Kosher Grill every day but Shabbat at the US Open. He began serving kosher food in 2003 at New York Giants football games. He then went on to found Kosher Sports Inc., which operates concession stands at professional sporting events in many cities in the United States.

Katz, who worked on the New York Stock Exchange before starting in the kosher food business, is now a partner in NY Brat Factory on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, and serves homemade hot dogs and sausages, in addition to steak, pastrami, wraps, pretzels, cold beer and more on the grounds at Flushing Meadows.

If the 800 hot dogs sold on Day 1 of the US Open is an indicator, it is going to be a great two weeks in Queens.

Inside Arthur Ashe, fans were treated to tournament top seed Rafael Nadal battling Dusan Lajovic of Serbia.

After a bit of a scare in the 64 minute first set, Nadal went on to easily win in straight sets.

While Nadal has historically denied rumors that his family may descend from Spanish Conversos, one orthodox Jewish ball boy was close enough to Rafa throughout the match to hand him tennis balls, towels and (theoretically) tip his kippa to the victor.

This ball boy is no boy – he appears to be in his 30s and has been working big-court matches for many years.

Other ball persons go bareheaded or wear Ralph Lauren baseball hats. This proud Jewish man prefers to be on court with his black suede yarmulke.

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The Original Article Published on The Jerusalem Post

NEW YORK – Day 2 of the US Open Qualifying Singles Tournament saw American Mitchell Krueger come from behind to beat Canadian Brayden Schnur.

Schnur and Krueger also provided decent material for Jewish fans scanning the draw sheets in hopeful search for Jewish names.

Krueger, No. 198 in the world, is not Jewish, while No. 193 Schnur reportedly is “half Jewish.”

Late in the day, a player wearing a Star of David – inside of a gold tennis racket—appeared on Court10. Proudly Jewish, 23-year-old Jared Hiltzik, from Wilmette, Illinois, played tennis at the University of Illinois, and currently lives in Tampa, Florida. On Wednesday, he fell 7-6(5), 6-3 to Argentinian Marco Trungelliti.

Last year, Hiltzik appeared at the US Open, playing in the American Collegiate Invitational, which featured eight men and eight women in a single-elimination singles tournament. (The winners received a wild card into the 2017 US Open main draw or qualifying draw-depending on their ranking).

Hiltzik felt he played well, but had to deal with some back tightness throughout the match.

“I was alright, I had some opportunities,” said the world’s

432nd-ranked player to The Jerusalem Post.

Jewish and Israel tennis fans will be happy to know that Hiltzik is proud of his Judaism, though he admits that “I was not as involved with Chabad on campus as I would have wanted to be, being a busy student-athlete.”

Hiltzik has traveled to Israel twice – once as a child, and once last month.

“I proposed to my girlfriend on Masada!” he exclaimed.

He plans to get married next September. Hopefully, success at next year’s US Open won’t interfere with the wedding.

The main draw of the US Open gets under way on Monday in New York, with Dudi Sela currently the only Israeli with a spot secured in the singles event.

Yshai Oliel is slated to play in the junior tournament, while Jonathan Erlich will participate in doubles.

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Original Article Published on The Jerusalem Post, Jerusalem Post Children’s Articles

The US was awash with tennis champions during the US Open and the many lead-up competitions that preceded it. Dash American correspondent Howard Blas had the opportunity to catch up with two of Israel’s leading tennis players, Shahar Peer and Dudi Sela during the competition.

Tennis is one of the world’s leading international sports. Players and fans from all around the world converge upon Roland Garros (French Open), Wimbledon (Wimbledon), Melbourne Park (Australian Open) and Flushing Meadows (US Open) to see the world’s best tough it out game after game, set after set, in impossible heat, in order to bring home the trophy, the crown of the tennis world.

Though they haven’t won a grand slam tournament yet, Israeli tennis stars Shahar Peer and Dudi Sela are on the rise, and have captured the hearts of Israeli and Jewish tennis fans across the globe. Earlier in 2009, Shahar Pe’er made headlines around the world when she was denied a visa for Dubai in order to compete in the Dubai Tennis Championships, only because she was Israeli. Also earlier in the year, Dudi Sela put Israel squarely on the tennis map during the Davis Cup quarter final men’s singles match, which was played at the Nokia Stadium in Tel Aviv. To the home crowd’s delight, Sela knocked over Russian tennis giant Mikhail Youzhny to get to the semifinals. D’ash American correspondent, Howard Blas, had the opportunity to catch up with Israel’s tennis stars during the Pilot Pen, a US open warm-up. This month we are featuring Shahar Peer and next month we will be featuring Dudi Sela.

Shahar Peer is one of the highest ranked women’s tennis players in Israel’s history. She and Anna Smashnova, another Israeli tennis champion, have each reached 15th in the world. The 22 year old Peer was born in Jerusalem and when she is not playing tennis around the world, lives in Maccabim. She enjoys reading and romance movies! She has an older brother Shlomi, who is 29 and an older sister, Shani, who is 26. Her mother, Aliza, is a retired sports teacher and her father, Dovik, is CEO of a software company. She comes from an athletic family. Her father was an award winning swimmer and her mother was a champion sprinter. D”ash reporter Howard Blas briefly met Peer at the Pilot Pen, a tennis tournament in New Haven, Connecticut, which serves as a warm up to the U.S. Open.

How many times have you played in the US Open? What is your current ATP ranking? This is my fifth time playing in the U.S. Open (first time was 2005). I am currently ranked 64th in the world.

Do you enjoy playing overseas? never play in Israel. There are no tournaments in Israel! (The only time I play in Israel is in the nationals). So I am always playing tennis overseas it is my life, my job, my career. I enjoy traveling. It is part of what I do.

What’s your greatest challenge as an athlete? It is not so hard being an athlete. I enjoy what I do. I guess the greatest challenge is playing well.

What’s your greatest challenge as an Israeli athlete? It is not so challenging being an Israeli athlete. I am proud of Israel and I enjoy representing Israel.

When competing overseas, do you find a lot of Israelis/Jews come to support you? Yes, especially places like New York at the U.S. Open and Melbourne at the Australian Open. Israelis and Jews come out to cheer and show support.

How does Israel’s prowess on the Tennis court affect public opinion about Israel, in your opinion? I am not sure what people think about Israel or about Israeli tennis. I hope it is positive. I hope they are happy watching Israelis playing the sport.

Can you tell our readers about your army service? Was it a tough decision to do it since you are a professional athlete? Or was it important simply because you are Israeli? Going in to the army is natural. Everyone does it for their country. I am happy I did it. I did what I had to do for my country.

You’ve had a couple of interesting, somewhat high profile incidents in the past few years. First, what was it like teaming up with Indian Sania Mirza for doubles and what was your reaction to playing with a Muslim player? We were friends before we played together and we are still good friends. We don’t involve any politics on the court.

How do you feel now looking back on the Dubai incident in February? How did it feel to have the support of Venus Williams and other players? Note: Peer was prevented from playing at the Dubai Tennis Championships in the United Arab Emirates since she was denied visa. Many players condemned this action and some sponsors pulled out. The tournament organizers were also forced to pay major fines for this action. Israeli tennis player Andy Ram was given a visa for the same tournament the following week. It was not a happy thing. I was not happy about it. I was happy that other players came out and supported me. I was especially proud of Andy Roddick.

If you had a message for all of your fans out there, Israeli, Jewish or otherwise, what would it be? Work hard and enjoy what you are doing.

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