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Eyal Ran (born 21 November 1972) is an
Israeli Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli ...
former professional tennis player and former captain of the
Israel Davis Cup team The Israel men's national tennis team (Hebrew: נבחרת גביע דייוויס של ישראל) represents Israel in Davis Cup tennis competition and is governed by the Israel Tennis Association. As of June 2020, Jonathan Erlich became Captai ...
. His career high ATP ranking in singles was 138 (21 April 1997), and in doubles it was 71 (11 October 1999).


Early life

Ran was born in Qiryat Ono, Israel, and is Jewish. His father emigrated to Israel from Romania.


Tennis career

Ran trained at
Israel Tennis Centers Israel Tennis Centers ("ITC"; Hebrew: המרכז לטניס בישראל) is the largest social service agency for children in Israel, serving more than a half million children and their families since its first center opened in Ramat Hasharon in ...
. He turned pro in 1992. In August 1993 he upset Jonas Svensson of Sweden, ranked # 37 in the world, in
Long Island, New York Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18th ...
, 6–1, 6–3. After playing at the
Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
in 1996 and 1997 in the singles competition (he lost in the 2nd round both years), Ran played in his first doubles
Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...
in 1999, reaching the 2nd round at the
French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
(he lost in the first round at
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...
and the U.S. Open). The following year, he played doubles in all four Grand Slam events, reaching the 2nd round at Wimbledon, but losing in the first round of the other three tournaments. In 2000 he won a
clay court A clay court is one of the types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis, originally known as "lawn tennis", is played. Clay courts are made of crushed stone, brick, shale, or other unbound mineral aggregate depending on the tournament. ...
doubles tournament in Bucharest with Alberto Martin. In 2001, Ran reached the 2nd round at the Australian Open, but lost in the first round of the French Open and Wimbledon (with partner
Noam Behr Noam Behr ( he, נועם בר; born 13 October 1975) is an Israeli professional tennis player who turned pro in 1994. His career-high singles ranking was No. 127 (October 2001), and his career-high doubles ranking was No. 109 (October 1999). T ...
). He often played Challengers and qualifying tournaments for major events.


Davis Cup

He also played on the
Israel Davis Cup team The Israel men's national tennis team (Hebrew: נבחרת גביע דייוויס של ישראל) represents Israel in Davis Cup tennis competition and is governed by the Israel Tennis Association. As of June 2020, Jonathan Erlich became Captai ...
.


Davis Cup captain

In 2005, at the peak of a disagreement between the Israeli Davis Cup players and the
Israel Tennis Association The Israel Tennis Association (the ITA; Hebrew: איגוד הטניס בישראל), founded in 1950, is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in Israel. The ITA governs the arrangements for Israeli tennis leagues and tournaments, Is ...
, Ran was made Israeli Davis Cup captain. Ran spoke to the players and the Association and settled the crisis. Israel (ranked 8th in the Davis Cup standings, with 5,394 points) hosted heavily favored
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
(which won in both 2002 and 2006, and was the top-ranked country in Davis Cup standings, with 27,897 points) in a Davis Cup quarterfinal tie in July 2009, on indoor hard courts at the Nokia Arena in Tel Aviv. Israel was represented by
Dudi Sela David "Dudi" Sela ( he, דודי סלע; born 4 April 1985) is an Israeli professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 29 in July 2009. Sela won the French Open 2003 junior doubles title. Representing Israel ...
,
Andy Ram Andreas "Andy" Ram ( he, אנדי רם; born April 10, 1980) is a retired Israeli professional tennis player. He was primarily a doubles player, and competed in three Olympics. He is the first Israeli tennis player to win a senior Grand Slam ...
,
Jonathan Erlich Jonathan Dario "Yoni" Erlich ( he, יונתן דאריו "יוני" ארליך, born 5 April 1977) is an Israeli former professional tennis player. During his career, he was mainly a doubles specialist, having won the men's doubles title at the ...
, and
Harel Levy Harel Levy ( he, הראל לוי; born 5 August 1978) is a retired Israeli professional tennis player, and the current captain of Israel's Davis Cup team. He reached the final of the 2000 Toronto Masters and achieved a career-high singles rank ...
. Russia's lineup consisted of
Marat Safin Marat Mubinovich Safin ( rus, Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, , mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn, Ru-Marat-Safin.ogg; tt-Cyrl, Марат Мөбин улы Сафин; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian retired world No. 1 tennis player an ...
(# 24 in the world; former world # 1),
Igor Andreev Igor Valeryevich Andreev (russian: link=no, И́горь Вале́рьевич Андре́ев, BGN/PCGN: ''Andreyev'', ISO 9: ''Andreev'', ; born 14 July 1983) is a Russian former professional tennis player. He won three ATP Tour singles ti ...
(26),
Igor Kunitsyn Igor Konstantinovich Kunitsyn ( rus, И́горь Константи́нович Куни́цын, , ˈiɡərʲ kʊˈnʲitsɨn; born September 30, 1981) is a retired tennis player from Russia. He made it into the top 100 for the first time in ...
(35), and
Mikhail Youzhny Mikhail Mikhailovich Youzhny (born 25 June 1982), nicknamed "Misha" and "Colonel" by his fans, is a Russian retired professional tennis player who was ranked inside the top 10 and was the Russian No. 1. He achieved a top-10 ranking by the Assoc ...
(44; former world # 8). The stage was set by Safin, who prior to the tie told the press: "With all due respect, Israel was lucky to get to the quarterfinals." The Israeli team's response was to beat the Russian team in each of their first three matches, thereby winning the tie. Levy, world # 210, beat Russia's top player, Andreev, world # 24, 6–4, 6–2, 4–6, 6–2 in the opening match. Sela (# 33) followed by beating Russian Youzhny 3–6, 6–1, 6–0, 7–5. Ran likened his players to two
fighter jet Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...
s on court, saying: "I felt as if I had two
F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it ...
s out there today, they played amazingly well." The 10,500 spectators were the largest crowd ever for a tennis match in Israel. The next day Ram and Erlich beat Safin and Kunitsyn 6–3, 6–4, 6–7(3), 4–6, 6–4 in front of a boisterous crowd of over 10,000. Even the ''
Saudi Gazette Saudi Gazette is an English-language daily newspaper launched in 1976 and published in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It is only available online, as the print version was discontinued in 2019. It is the second English-language daily newspaper in Saud ...
'' described the doubles match as a "thrilling" win. With the tie clinched for Israel, the reverse singles rubbers were "
dead Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...
", and instead of best-of-five matches, best-of-three sets were played, with the outcomes of little to no importance. Israel wrapped up a 4–1 victory over Russia, as Levy defeated Kunitsyn 6–4, 4–6, 7–6(2), while Sela retired with a wrist injury while down 3–4 in the first set against Andreev. In the subsequent Spain defeated Israel in Israel's first appearance in the Davis Cup semifinals. In 2010, Israel lost to Chile in the first round, and to Austria in the playoffs, participated in the Europe/Africa Group I in 2011."Israel's Davis Cup Biography,"
daviscup.com. Retrieved 25 September 2010
In 2017, after 12 years at the helm, he retired as captain. Ran said: "I’m happy I guided the team to the Davis Cup semifinals and for the privilege I had of coaching players like
Andy Ram Andreas "Andy" Ram ( he, אנדי רם; born April 10, 1980) is a retired Israeli professional tennis player. He was primarily a doubles player, and competed in three Olympics. He is the first Israeli tennis player to win a senior Grand Slam ...
,
Yoni Erlich Jonathan Dario "Yoni" Erlich ( he, יונתן דאריו "יוני" ארליך, born 5 April 1977) is an Israeli former professional tennis player. During his career, he was mainly a doubles specialist, having won the men's doubles title at the ...
,
Noam Okun Noam Okun ( he, נעם אוקון; born 16 April 1978) is an Israeli retired professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 95 in April 2002. Okun won several challenger tournaments in his career, and was a c ...
,
Amir Hadad Amir Hadad (Hebrew: אמיר חדד, born 17 February 1978) is a retired Israeli professional tennis player. His highest singles ATP ranking was World No. 180, achieved in April 2003, and his highest doubles ranking was No. 87, achieved in Ma ...
,
Harel Levy Harel Levy ( he, הראל לוי; born 5 August 1978) is a retired Israeli professional tennis player, and the current captain of Israel's Davis Cup team. He reached the final of the 2000 Toronto Masters and achieved a career-high singles rank ...
,
Amir Weintraub Amir Weintraub ( he, אמיר ויינטרוב; born 16 September 1986) is an Israeli professional tennis player. In 2010, he won the Israeli Tennis Championship. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 161 in May 2012. Career ...
and
Dudi Sela David "Dudi" Sela ( he, דודי סלע; born 4 April 1985) is an Israeli professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 29 in July 2009. Sela won the French Open 2003 junior doubles title. Representing Israel ...
to great achievements... I’m also happy I had the privilege of coaching Israel’s future team:
Yshai Oliel Yshai Oliel ( he, ישי עוליאל; born 5 January 2000) is an Israeli tennis player. He was the No. 1 Israeli singles from October 4, 2021, until October 3, 2022. Oliel is a two-time Junior Orange Bowl champion, having won in 2012 and 201 ...
,
Edan Leshem Edan Leshem ( he, עידן לשם; born March 19, 1997) is an Israeli tennis player. In 2015, he began playing for the Israel Davis Cup team at the age of 17. His career-high ranking in singles is World No. 249, which Leshem achieved on 18 Dece ...
,
Daniel Cukierman Daniel Cukierman ( he, דניאל צוקרמן; born 9 July 1995) is an Israeli tennis player. During his junior year at the University of Southern California from November 13, 2019, until the close of competition in 2020, Cukierman was ranked N ...
, Ben Patael and
Mor Bulis Mor Bulis ( he, מור בוליס, born 18 April 1996) is an Israeli tennis player. Bulis has a career-high ATP singles ranking of 516 achieved on 7 May 2018. He also has a career-high ATP doubles ranking of 654 achieved on 25 September 2017. ...
...."


See also

* List of select Jewish tennis players


References


External links

* * *
Jews in Sports bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ran, Eyal 1972 births Living people Israeli male tennis players Jewish tennis players People from Kiryat Ono Israeli Jews Israeli people of Romanian-Jewish descent