Jonathan Erlich
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Jonathan Dario "Yoni" Erlich ( he, יונתן דאריו "יוני" ארליך, born 5 April 1977) is an Israeli former professional
tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
player. During his career, he was mainly a doubles specialist, having won the men's doubles title at the 2008 Australian Open with
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 ...
. He attained his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 5 in July 2008. Erlich has reached 44 doubles finals and won 22 (half of them), mostly with partner Andy Ram; together, they are known in Israel as "Andyoni". His Davis Cup doubles record, as of 2018, was 22–12.


Background

Jonathan Erlich, who is
Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
ish, was born in
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
,
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
. He moved to
Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
,
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, when he was a one-year-old, and now resides in
Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
and competes as an Israeli. Erlich first started playing tennis when he was three years old, and he played his first tournament at the age of seven. He was later trained at the Wingate Institute, where he met
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 ...
, his future doubles partner. He turned pro in 1996 at the age of 19. Erlich is known as a fan of the football team
Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa ( he, מכבי חיפה) is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Football ...
.


Tennis career


1996–2005

Erlich and Ram first competed at
Queen's Club The Queen's Club is a private sporting club in West Kensington, London, England. The club hosts the annual Queen's Club Championships men's grass court lawn tennis tournament (currently known as the "cinch Championships" for sponsorship reas ...
in June 2001. In 2002, in singles Erlich defeated world # 64 ranked
Adrian Voinea Adrian Voinea (born 6 August 1974) is a former Romanian tennis player who turned professional in 1993. The right-hander won one singles title (1999, Bournemouth). Voinea was born in Focsani, Romania, but moved to Italy at age 15 to train with ...
of Romania, 6–2, 6–3, in Indianapolis. The Israeli duo's best achievement was reaching the semifinal of the
Wimbledon championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...
in 2003. They defeated
Mark Knowles Mark Knowles (born 4 September 1971) is a Bahamian professional tennis coach and former professional tennis player, becoming the former number 1 in world as a specialist in doubles tennis. He won three of the four Grand Slam tournaments in ...
and
Daniel Nestor Daniel Mark Nestor ( ; sr, Данијел Нестор, Danijel Nestor; born September 4, 1972) is a Canadian former professional tennis player. Nestor won 91 men's doubles titles (with 11 different partners), including an Olympic gold medal ...
but lost the semifinal to defending Wimbledon champions
Jonas Björkman Jonas Lars Björkman (; born 23 March 1972) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He is a former world No. 1 in doubles, and also a former world No. 4 in singles. Björkman retired from professional tennis after competing at the 2008 T ...
and
Todd Woodbridge Todd Andrew Woodbridge, OAM (born 2 April 1971) is an Australian former professional tennis player and current sports broadcaster with the Nine Network. Woodbridge is best known for his successful Doubles partnerships with Mark Woodforde (n ...
. They were the first Israelis to advance to the semifinals in a
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 ...
event. They won the Thailand Open in September 2003 and the Grand Prix de
Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
in October 2003, defeating
Julien Benneteau Julien Henry Guy Benneteau-Desgrois (; born 20 December 1981) is a French retired professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is ATP world no. 25, which he reached in November 2014. He formerly resided in Boulogne-Billancourt and ...
and
Nicolas Mahut Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut (; born 21 January 1982) is a French professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. He is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having completed the career Grand Slam with victories at the ...
6–1, 6–3 in the final. Erlich advanced with
Liezel Huber Liezel Huber (née Horn; born 21 August 1976) is a South African-American retired tennis player who represented the United States internationally since August 2007. Huber has won four Grand Slam titles in women's doubles with partner Cara Blac ...
of South Africa to the semifinals in the mixed doubles tournament in 2004 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 ...
. They were defeated by
Leander Paes Leander Adrian Paes ( ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players ever. He holds the record for the most doubles wins in the Davis Cup. Paes won eight men's ...
and Martina Navratilova in the semifinals. Ram and Erlich won the Lyon tournament again in October 2004. They defeated Jonas Björkman and
Radek Štěpánek Radek Štěpánek (; born 27 November 1978) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 8 and best doubles ranking was world No. 4. Štěpánek's biggest achievements are reaching two Masters 1000 ...
7–6, 6–2 in the final. Erlich and Ram's next major tournament win was in
Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
in February 2005. They beat Czechs
Cyril Suk Cyril Suk III (born 29 January 1967) is a former professional tennis player. A doubles specialist, Suk won five Grand Slam titles, one men's doubles and four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles and 32 ATP Tour doubles titles during his career. Ea ...
and
Pavel Vízner Pavel Vízner (born 15 July 1970) is a retired professional male tennis player from the Czech Republic. Vízner has reached the French Open final twice, having had turned professional in 1990 and achieved a career high doubles ranking of World ...
6–4, 4–6, 6–3 in the finals. Ram and Erlich missed 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 ...
in 2005 due to the death of Ram's father shortly before the tournament was due to start. They reached 8th place in the doubles ranking at the end of 2005, and served as alternates at the Masters Cup in Shanghai.


2006–2010

Erlich and Ram claimed the
Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
title in March 2006, defeating Russians
Dmitry Tursunov Dmitry Igorevich Tursunov (; born 12 December 1982) is a retired Russian tennis player and current tennis coach. At age 12 he moved to the United States to train and further his prospects of becoming a professional player. His career-high singl ...
and
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 ...
6–3, 6–2. At the Cincinnati 1000 Masters, in August 2007, he and Ram won, upsetting the world No. 1
Bryan brothers The Bryan brothers, identical twin brothers Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, are retired American professional doubles tennis players and the most successful duo of all time. They were born on April 29, 1978, with Mike being the elder by two minutes. ...
in the final 4–6, 6–3, 13–11. In November 2007, they again defeated the No. 1 Bryan brothers at the Tennis Masters Cup in China, 7–6, 2–6, 6–1. At the 2007 US Open, he played doubles with Ram, losing to the eventual winners
Simon Aspelin Simon Aspelin (; born 11 May 1974) is a former professional tennis doubles player from Sweden who turned professional in 1998. His success mainly came in doubles, winning 12 titles and reaching World No. 7 in March 2008. In men's doubles, Aspel ...
and
Julian Knowle Julian Knowle (born 29 April 1974) is an Austrian former male professional tennis player. Being a born left-hander, Knowle was one of the few on the ATP Tour who played his forehand, backhand, and even volleys double-handed. He was Austria's m ...
, 5–7, 6–7. Erlich and Ram won their first
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 ...
at the 2008 Australian Open final against
Arnaud Clément Arnaud Clément (; born 17 December 1977) is a French former professional tennis player and Davis Cup captain. Clément reached the final of the 2001 Australian Open and achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 10 in April of that year. Part ...
and
Michaël Llodra Michaël Llodra (; born 18 May 1980) is a French former professional tennis player. He was a successful doubles player with three Grand Slam championships and an Olympic silver medal, and has also had success in singles, winning five career titl ...
7–5, 7–6. From September 2008 till May 2009 Erlich was recovering from right elbow surgery, and suffered setback after setback, while Ram was playing doubles with other partners. The
Israel Open The Israel Open (also known as the Electra Israel Open) is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It is currently part of the ATP Challenger Tour. It has been held annually in Ra'anana, Israel Israel (; he, י ...
ATP Challenger tournament in May 2009 was the first where the two reunited. They proceeded to the tournament's final, where they lost to
George Bastl George Edward Bastl (born 1 April 1975) is a former professional tennis player from Switzerland. Tennis career Bastl was an All-American at the University of Southern California. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 71 in ...
and
Chris Guccione Chris Guccione may refer to: * Chris Guccione (tennis) (born 1985), Australian tennis player * Chris Guccione (umpire) Christopher Gene Guccione (born June 24, 1974) is an American umpire in Major League Baseball. He wears number 68. Umpiring ca ...
6–3, 7–63. After the tournament Ram announced that he was going to finish the season with his temporary partner
Max Mirnyi Maksim "Max" Mikalaevich Mirnyi ( be, Максім Мікалаевіч Мірны, ; russian: Максим Николаевич Мирный, ; born 6 July 1977) is a Belarusian former professional tennis player. Mirnyi became a doubles speci ...
, before returning to play with Erlich on a permanent basis. Later the same month, Erlich partnering
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 ...
won his first ATP tournament after returning to play, the Türk Telecom İzmir Cup (an
ATP Challenger Tour The ATP Challenger Tour, known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series, is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. The Challenger Tour events are the second-highest tier of tennis competition, behind the ATP T ...
event). Erlich partnered with
Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...
at the 2010 Queen's Club Championships winning the title. It is Djokovic’s only doubles title in his career.


2021: 400 career match wins

In May 2021, Erlich won his 22nd doubles title at the 2021 Belgrade Open out of 44 finals with partner Andrei Vasilevski, the win being one match away from reaching a milestone of 400 career match wins.


2022: Retirement

Erlich announced his retirement after his participation at the
2022 Tel Aviv Open The 2022 Tel Aviv Open (also known as the 2022 Tel Aviv Watergen Open for sponsorship purposes) was a tennis tournament to be played on indoor hard courts. It was the 1st edition of the Tel Aviv Open at the ATP Tour level since 1996, and part of ...
partnering
Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...
in September. He had to withdraw in the last minute due to injury thus completing his professional career.


Team Participation


Davis Cup

Playing for the
Israel Davis Cup team The Israel men's national tennis team (Hebrew language, 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 Erl ...
in 2000 and from 2002–09, he has won 12 of his 16 matches, including wins in Israel's 2006 win over Great Britain, 2007 win over
Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
, 2007 wins over Italy and
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
(in which he and Ram defeated Olympic Gold Medal winners González and Massú), and 2009 win over Russia. 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 ...
(winners in 2002 and 2006, and 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 Erlich, Ram,
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 Israe ...
, 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. Israeli captain
Eyal Ran Eyal Ran (born 21 November 1972) is an Israeli former professional tennis player and former captain of the Israel Davis Cup team. His career high ATP ranking in singles was 138 (21 April 1997), and in doubles it was 71 (11 October 1999). Earl ...
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-16s out there today, they played amazingly well." The match was attended by 10,500 people, the largest ever crowd ever for a tennis match held in Israel. The next day Erlich and Ram beat Safin and Kunitsyn 6–3, 6–4, 6–7, 4–6, 6–4 in front of a boisterous crowd of over 10,000. "This is something I will cherish for all of my life," said Erlich. He added, "Everybody has dreams, but there are some you don’t allow yourself to have, and beating Russia 3–0 was just like that .. but we have done it." 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. Ran was carried shoulder-high around the Tel Aviv stadium, as the 10,000-strong crowd applauded. 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, while Sela retired with a wrist injury while down 3–4 in the first set against Andreev."Israel completes Davis Cup win over Russia,"
''Miami Herald'', 7/12/09/accessed 29 August 2011


Olympics

Erlich and Ram represented
Israel at the 2004 Summer Olympics Israel competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. It was the nation's thirteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics. The Olympic Committee of Israel sent 36 athletes to the Games, 20 men and 16 women, to c ...
in
Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
, Greece, and reached the quarterfinals. They also represented
Israel at the 2008 Summer Olympics Israel competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. This was Israel's fourteenth participation in the Summer Olympics. Israel sent 43 athletes to compete in Beijing, the largest Israeli delegation in Olympic history, with the previous ...
in Beijing, China.


Major finals


Doubles: 1 (1 title)


ATP career finals


Doubles: 45 (22 titles, 23 runners-up)


Challenger and Futures finals


Singles: 1 (0–1)


Doubles: 48 (32–16)


Doubles performance timeline


See also

* List of select Jewish tennis players


References


External links

*
Jonathan Erlich
at the
Jewish Virtual Library Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Erlich, Jonathan 1977 births Living people Argentine Jews Tennis players from Buenos Aires Sportspeople from Haifa Sportspeople from Tel Aviv Argentine emigrants to Israel Israeli Jews Israeli male tennis players Jewish Argentine sportspeople Jewish tennis players Olympic tennis players of Israel Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Wingate Institute alumni Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles Israeli people of Argentine-Jewish descent Sportspeople of Argentine descent Australian Open (tennis) champions