The Israel men's national tennis team (
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
: נבחרת גביע דייוויס של ישראל) represents
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 ...
in
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...
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 ...
competition and is governed by 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 ...
. As of June 2020,
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 ...
became Captain of the team.
The team plays primarily in
Canada Stadium
The Canada Stadium ( he, אצטדיון קנדה) is a tennis stadium in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat HaSharon, Israel. It is the country’s main tennis venue, and is used mainly by the Israeli Davis Cup and Fed Cup
The Billie Jean ...
, which is the main venue of the Tennis Center in
Ramat Hasharon
Ramat HaSharon ( he, רָמַת הַשָּׁרוֹן, ''lit.'' '' Sharon Heights'', ar, رمات هشارون) is a city located on Israel's central coastal strip in the south of the Sharon region, bordering Tel Aviv to the south, Hod HaSharon t ...
,
Tel Aviv District
The Tel Aviv District ( he, מָחוֹז תֵּל אָבִיב; ar, منطقة تل أبيب) is the smallest and most densely populated of the six administrative districts of Israel with a population of 1.35 million residents. It is 98.9% Jewi ...
,
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 ...
. The stadium is known for its high intensity, tough crowd, and good home environment. The surface is considered hard by world standards, a feature that plays to the advantage of Israeli competitors already used to it. The tough surface and even tougher crowd have earned the venue the nickname "Israhell" among visiting players.
Over the protests of all four of their own players (including
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 ...
, who said: ""Only Ramat Hasharon. We're not even thinking about
Nokia
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...
. There's no reason to play against the Russians indoors – we love Ramat Hasharon"), who preferred to play outdoors in the heat on the hard court that they are accustomed to, the ITA moved the tie against Russia in 2009 to the larger indoor
Nokia Arena.
But the ITA was sensitive to the fact that the indoor arena has a capacity of 11,000 – more than double that of the Canada Stadium.
ITA CEO Moshe Haviv denied that his prime consideration was the extra money such a move would bring in, and said the larger stadium would give more Israelis the chance to see the national team play, and allow them to watch the sport in more comfortable conditions.
This was the second time Israel played a home match at
Yad Eliyahu Arena
Menora Mivtachim Arena ( he, היכל מנורה מבטחים; also known as the Yad Eliyahu Arena, ; and formerly known as the Nokia Arena, ) is a large multi-purpose sports indoor arena that is located in southeast Tel Aviv, Israel. The arena is ...
, the previous one have been against France in 1989.
Current team (
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
)
*
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 ...
*
Sahar Simon
*
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 ...
(''Captain-player'')
History
Israel competed in its first Davis Cup in
1949.
2007
Chile
Before the
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 ...
-Israel Davis Cup match began in September 2007, even ''
The Jewish Chronicle
''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...
'' wrote: "Led by Fernando González (6) and Nicolás Massú (72), it is hard to see Israel's Dudi Sela (105) and Noam Okun (186), backed up by doubles specialists
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 ...
and
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 ...
, winning the contest. González and Massú are also a formidable doubles partnership, having won the Olympic gold medal in Athens in 2004."
That same month, before playing
Nicolás Massú
Nicolás Alejandro Massú Fried (; born 10 October 1979), nicknamed ''El Vampiro'' (Spanish, 'the vampire'), is a Chilean former professional tennis player. A former world No. 9 in singles, he won the singles and doubles gold medals at the 200 ...
of Chile in the first match of the tie, Sela said: "We like being the underdog. I'm very pleased with the fact that I'm playing first and I'm very confident of claiming the win." He then proceeded to upset Massu, ranked # 72 in the world, and formerly ranked # 9 in the world, in a 5-hour 7-minute match, 6–3, 6–4, 6–7 (3), 6–4. "This is definitely the biggest win in my career", Sela said afterwards. Later in that Davis Cup tie, Dudi Sela defeated # 7 in the world
Fernando González
Fernando Francisco González Ciuffardi (; born 29 July 1980) is a Chilean former professional tennis player. During his career he made it to at least the quarterfinals of all four Grand Slam tournaments. He played his only major final at the ...
4–6, 7–6 (5), 5–7, 7–6 (7), 6–3 in a 5-hour 1-minute match. It is arguably the greatest tennis match ever played in Israel. The victory lifted Israel over Chile and into 2008's World Group. Gonzalez was at the time the highest-ranked player Sela had ever beaten in his career (he later beat world # 5 David Ferrer in Beijing in September 2008), and his 6th upset of a top-100 player in the first 9 months of the year. Elated, Sela said "This is definitely the happiest day of my life." Sela was congratulated over the phone by Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert (; he, אֶהוּד אוֹלְמֶרְט, ; born 30 September 1945) is an Israeli politician and lawyer. He served as the 12th Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009 and before that as a cabinet minister from 1988 to 1992 and ...
and President
Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres (; he, שמעון פרס ; born Szymon Perski; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the ninth president of ...
after the match.
2008
Sweden
In the
2008 World Group, Israel hosted
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
in
Ramat HaSharon
Ramat HaSharon ( he, רָמַת הַשָּׁרוֹן, ''lit.'' '' Sharon Heights'', ar, رمات هشارون) is a city located on Israel's central coastal strip in the south of the Sharon region, bordering Tel Aviv to the south, Hod HaSharon t ...
. Sela started with a win against world # 71
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 ...
7–6, 6–3, 6–1, and gave Israel an advantage of 1–0. He then lost to world # 60
Thomas Johansson
Karl Thomas Conny Johansson (; born 24 March 1975) is a Swedish retired professional tennis player and coach. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 7 singles ranking on 10 May 2002. His career highlights i ...
7–6 (6), 6–1, 7–5, as Israel lost the tie 3–2.
Peru
In the September
2008 World Group Playoffs against the
Peru Davis Cup team
The Peru national tennis team is the Davis Cup team that represents the nation of Peru. The team is governed by the Federación de Tenis de Peru. They currently compete in the Americas Zone Group II, and their best result was reaching the World G ...
at Ramat Hasharon,
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 ...
beat
Iván Miranda
Iván Miranda Chang (born March 8, 1980) is a professional tennis player from Peru. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 104 in 2003.
Miranda has participated in 26 Davis Cup events for Peru
, image_flag = Fl ...
in the first singles match, but
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 ...
then lost to
Luis Horna
Luis Horna Biscari (; born 14 September 1980, in Lima) is a former tour professional tennis player from Peru, who turned professional in 1998. Known by his nickname "Lucho", he won 2 career singles titles, reached the quarterfinals of the 2004 ...
. Levy then paired 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 ...
to win the doubles tie, before Sela defeated Horna in four sets to ensure the Israeli national tennis team victory over Peru and send it through to the 2009 Davis Cup World Group.
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 ...
then defeated Miranda to close out a 4–1 victory. Horna praised the 91st-ranked Sela, saying: "His ranking is not reflective, he will be close to the top 50 in the world." Horna presciently opined that the Israelis could advance to the quarters, or even the semifinals, saying that Israel is a "great team". 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 ...
said: "It's an amazing effort for a small country like Israel to be among the top 16 tennis nations in the world. It's hard to take in, but I think we deserve it."
2009
Sweden
In the 2009 World Group Playoffs in March 2009, Israel again faced seven-time Davis Cup champion
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. An amusing moment occurred during Sela's opening match when the Israeli fans, to the
Que Sera, Sera tune of the
Doris Day
Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress, singer, and activist. She began her career as a big band singer in 1939, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, " Sent ...
hit song from the 1950s, sang "Dudi Sela, Sela, whatever will be will be." Sela led the Israeli team to a come-from-behind 3–2 victory over the 7-time Davis Cup champion Swedes at Baltic Hall in
Malmö
Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...
, Sweden, to advance in the 2009 Davis Cup.
Sela won each of his singles matches in 5 sets, coming from behind to defeat
Andreas Vinciguerra in his hometown 4–6, 6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 11–9, and came from behind to stun
2002 Australian Open
The 2002 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Melbourne Park in Melbourne in Australia. It was the 90th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 14 through 27 January 2002 and attracted an attendance of ...
champion
Thomas Johansson
Karl Thomas Conny Johansson (; born 24 March 1975) is a Swedish retired professional tennis player and coach. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 7 singles ranking on 10 May 2002. His career highlights i ...
3–6, 6–1, 4–6, 6–4, 6–2. Sela views it as the biggest win of his career to that point. In their 84-year Davis Cup history, the Swedes had never before lost a tie after holding a 2–1 lead. The last time Israel's Davis Cup team reached the level of being one of the top eight tennis nations in the world was in 1987, against
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
.
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 ...
(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 ...
,
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 ...
,
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
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 ...
. 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).
Sela said before the tie: "We feel we can beat the Russians."
The stage was then 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 was aware that the Russians thought he was incapable of playing at their level, let alone beating Russia's top player, Andreev.
Levy, ranked world # 210, beat Andreev, world # 24, 6–4, 6–2, 4–6, 6–2 in the opening match. Levy said: "I had a feeling Andreev couldn't hurt me in any way, while I could do almost anything, and that made me very calm. I forced him to feel very uncomfortable on the court, lowering his confidence, and his game became more simple."
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-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 Israelis 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. "I started to cry like a little boy", said Ram.
"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."
Coach Ran was carried shoulder-high around the Tel Aviv stadium, as the 10,000-strong crowd applauded. 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. Ram said: "We have all grown up together since the age of 14. The reason we are in the semis is because we are a united team." Israeli Prime Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu, noting that the team had "filled the nation with pride", said "We're once again on the map."
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.
Spain
Israel next faced the defending champion
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
in
Murcia, Spain
Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...
on September 18–20, 2009, in Israel's first appearance in the Davis Cup semifinals.
Challenges for the Israelis included the facts that the Spanish fans are raucous, the tie was played on clay courts, and the Spanish team had won 16 straight Davis Cup ties at home.
"It will be very difficult against Spain", Levy admitted. "We don't deceive ourselves... We'll prepare ourselves as much as possible, and we'll try to be the ones who finally break their crazy streak."
"Everything is possible, everything starts at zero-zero", said Erlich. "Obviously it will be very difficult, especially playing there on clay. We do our best, we give our hearts and more than that we cannot do."
Despite the absence of Spain's two best players,
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis ...
and
Fernando Verdasco
Fernando Verdasco Carmona (; born 15 November 1983) is a Spanish professional tennis player.
His career-high singles ranking is world No. 7, achieved in April 2009.
His best performance in a Grand Slam was making the semifinals of the 2009 ...
, the home team took a 2–0 lead on the first day with straight sets wins for
David Ferrer
David Ferrer Ern (; ; born 2 April 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A three-time Davis Cup champion with Spain Davis Cup team, Spain, Ferrer has won tournaments at all levels on the ATP Tour (ATP Tour 250, ATP 250, ATP Tour ...
over Harel Levy and
Juan Carlos Ferrero
Juan Carlos Ferrero Donat (; born 12 February 1980) is a Spanish former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the men's singles title at the 2003 French Open, and in September of that year became the 21st player to hold the top ranking, which he h ...
over Dudi Sela. In the doubles match,
Tommy Robredo
Tomás Robredo Garcés, known as Tommy Robredo (, ; born 1 May 1982), is a Spanish former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 5, which he reached in August 2006 as a result of winning the Hamburg Masters ea ...
and
Feliciano López
Feliciano López Díaz-Guerra (; born 20 September 1981) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles ranking of world No. 12 in March 2015 and doubles ranking of world No. 9 in November 2016.In 2005, López was t ...
beat Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich in four sets and secured overall victory for Spain. The two dead singles were split: Ferrer defeated Ram and Harel Levy beat López, to make the final score 4–1 for Spain.
2010
Chile
Israel was drawn to play the first round tie away to , in a reverse of the 2007 Qualifying Round match.
The tie was delayed by one day because of the
earthquake that hit Chile a few days earlier, and was played on March 6–8 at
Coquimbo
Coquimbo is a port city, commune and capital of the Elqui Province, located on the Pan-American Highway, in the Coquimbo Region of Chile. Coquimbo is situated in a valley south of La Serena, with which it forms Greater La Serena with more than ...
. Chile won the tie 4–1, 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 ...
and
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 ...
giving Israel the only rubber in the doubles match.
Austria
In the World Group Playoff Israel played against , beginning September 16, 2010. Israel gave away a 1:0 and a 2:1 lead, and finally lost 2:3 against the Austrian team featuring world #13
Jürgen Melzer
Jürgen Melzer (born 22 May 1981) is an Austrian former professional tennis player. Melzer reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 8 in April 2011, and a doubles ranking of world No. 6 in September 2010. He has a younger brother, Geral ...
(world #6 in doubles
2011
Poland
Israel got a bye in the first round of the Europe/Africa Zone Group I.
It defeated Poland in the second round tie at home in March 2011.
Dudi Sela defeated
Marcin Gawron
Marcin Gawron (; born 25 May 1988) is a Polish tennis player. He made the final of the 2006 Wimbledon Junior Championship, but lost to Thiemo de Bakker
Thiemo Carsten Jannick de Bakker (born 19 September 1988) is a Dutch professional tenn ...
6–1, 6–3, 6–4, and
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 ...
in his Davis Cup debut beat
Jerzy Janowicz
Jerzy Filip Janowicz Jr. (; born 13 November 1990) is a Polish professional tennis player. Janowicz is best known for becoming the first Polish man to reach a major semifinal at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships.
Noted for his very powerful serv ...
4–6, 6–2, 6–2, 6–7 (4–7), 6–3. Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich then beat
Marcin Matkowski
Marcin Matkowski (; born 15 January 1981) is a Polish former professional tennis player whose speciality is in doubles. He played college tennis at UCLA, where Jean-Julien Rojer was one of his teammates. Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg won t ...
and
Mariusz Fyrstenberg
Mariusz Stanisław Fyrstenberg (born 8 July 1980) is a retired left-handed Polish tennis player who was a doubles specialist.
Fyrstenberg primarily partnered Marcin Matkowski. The pair won the Madrid Open twice, in addition to reaching the fina ...
4–6, 6–4, 6–3, 6–1 at the Israel Tennis Center in Ramat Hasharon.
Canada
On September 16–18, 2011, Israel will play the
Canada Davis Cup team
The Canada men's national tennis team represents Canada in Davis Cup tennis competition since 1913. They are overseen by Tennis Canada, the governing body of tennis in Canada.
The team won their first Davis Cup in 2022, beating Australia 2-0 in ...
at Canada Stadium in
Ramat Hasharon
Ramat HaSharon ( he, רָמַת הַשָּׁרוֹן, ''lit.'' '' Sharon Heights'', ar, رمات هشارون) is a city located on Israel's central coastal strip in the south of the Sharon region, bordering Tel Aviv to the south, Hod HaSharon t ...
, Israel. Canada is led by
Milos Raonic
Milos Raonic (; sr, Милош Раонић, Miloš Raonić, ; born December 27, 1990) is a Canadian inactive professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), wh ...
(# 25 in May 2011; Canada's highest-ranked male player ever), who is joined by
Vasek Pospisil
Vasek Pospisil ( ; cs, Vašek Pospíšil, ; known in born June 23, 1990) is a Canadian professional tennis player. Pospisil has a career-high world singles ranking of No. 25, and No. 4 in doubles. Along with partner Jack Sock, he won the 2014 ...
(# 124 in September 2011). The teams split the first two matches in two upsets, as Pospisil defeated Dudi Sela 7–6 (4), 6–7 (6), 6–1, 6–7 (2), 6–3, and Amir Weintraub beat Raonic 5–7, 7–5, 6–3, 6–1.
Records
Youngest Player:
Yair Wertheimer
Yair Wertheimer ( he, יאיר ורטהיימר, also known as Meir Wertheimer; born 3 November 1955) is an Israeli former tennis player.
Tennis career
Beginning in 1972, Wertheimer played for the Israeli Davis Cup team and had a 6-4 record in ...
, 16 years and 170 days
Oldest Player:
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 ...
, 41 years and 1 day
Most wins:
Shlomo Glickstein
Shlomo Glickstein ( he, שלמה גליקשטיין; born 6 January 1958) is an Israeli former professional tennis player.
He reached his career-high singles ranking of World No. 22 in November 1982, and his career-high doubles ranking of World ...
, 44 wins (22 losses)
Most singles wins: Glickstein, 31 wins (13 losses)
Most doubles wins: Erlich, 22 wins (12 losses)
Most ties played: Erlich, 34 ties
Most matches played: Glickstein, 66 matches (44 singles, 22 doubles)
Most years played: Erlich, 17 years
See also
*
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...
*
Israel Fed Cup team
The Israel women's national tennis team ( he, נבחרת ישראל בגביע הפדרציה) is the representative national team of Israel in Fed Cup competition. In the 2007 Fed Cup, they qualified from the World Group II and World Group Pla ...
*
Canada Stadium (Israel)
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Israel Davis Cup Team
Davis Cup teams
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...