210th ranked Israeli, Harel Levy, stunned former French Open quarterfinalist, Igor Andreev, 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, in the opening match of the Davis Cup Tie. Later Friday, the current top Israeli male singles player, 33rd ranked Dudi Sela, gave Israel a 2-0 lead in the Tie with his four set victory over Russian, Mikhail Youzhny, 3-6, 6-1, 6-0, 7-5. On Sunday, the Israelis completed a 4-1 victory over Russia as Sela retired with a wrist injury trailing Andreev 3-4 and then Levy beat Kunitsyn 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (2), in the final match of the Tie. The seeds of this monumental victory for the Israeli Davis Cup team and Israeli tennis in general were laid more than thirty years ago. In 1974, Ian Froman, Freddie Krivine, Joseph Shane, Harold Landesberg, Rubin Josephs and Dr. William Lippy began raising money to build a National Tennis Center in Israel and promote the sport of tennis in Israel. Their efforts led to the establishment of Israel Tennis Centers.

In Malmo, Sweden, in early March, the Israeli team competed against host, Sweden, in an empty indoor arena because of concerns over violent protests related to Israel's actions in Gaza. In that Tie, Dudi Sela defeated former Australian Open Champion,Thomas Johansson, 3-6, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, to even the tie at 2-2 on the third day and then Harel Levy overcame Swede, Andreas Vinciguerra, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 8-6, in a grueling three and half hour match to clinch the victory for Israel. The Israeli tennis players have been the center of attention at other times related to Israel's policies or actions although they have said that they prefer to simply focus on playing tennis. In February, Shahar Peer was denied a visa to compete in the Dubai Championships, a stop on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.

Israel Tennis Centers is the largest tennis program for children in the world, reaching more than 350,000 families (5% of the Israeli population). There are fourteen tennis centers across Israel which use tennis to promote the social, physical and psychological well being of their students. The Israel Tennis Centers have produced numerous successful tennis players including Dudi Sela, Harel Levy and Andy Ram, Shahar Peer, Anna Smashnova, Amos Mansdorf, Shlomo Glickstein, Shahar Perkiss, Gilad Bloom, Tzipora Obziler, Noam Okun, etc. The Israeli Davis Cup victory over Russia, in front of a record hometown crowd, will undoubtedly inspire a few more children to pick up a tennis racket.

Posted by TC at 12:05 AM || Comments (1)