Jonathan_Erlich

Jonathan Erlich

Jonathan Erlich

Israeli tennis player


Jonathan Dario "Yoni" Erlich (Hebrew: 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 2008 Australian Open with Andy Ram. 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.

Quick Facts Country (sports), Residence ...

Personal information

Jonathan Erlich, who is Jewish,[1][2] was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He moved to Haifa, Israel, when he was a one-year-old, and now resides in Tel Aviv and competed 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.[3] He was later trained at the Wingate Institute, where he met Andy Ram, 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.[4]

Following his retirement, in 2023 Erlich joined the non-profit Israel Tennis & Education Centers (ITEC) as Director of High-Performance Program. In his new position, responsible for the development of competitive tennis layers from all backgrounds throughout Israel, with an emphasis on distributing resources and identifying talent in under-served and remote areas of the country.[5]

Tennis career

1996–2005

Erlich and Ram first competed at Queen's Club in June 2001. In 2002, in singles Erlich defeated world # 64 ranked Adrian Voinea of Romania, 6–2, 6–3, in Indianapolis.

The Israeli duo's best achievement was reaching the semifinal of the Wimbledon championships in 2003. They defeated Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor but lost the semifinal to defending Wimbledon champions Jonas Björkman and Todd Woodbridge. They were the first Israelis to advance to the semifinals in a Grand Slam event.[6]

They won the Thailand Open in September 2003 and the Grand Prix de Lyon in October 2003, defeating Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut 6–1, 6–3 in the final.[6]

Erlich advanced with Liezel Huber of South Africa to the semifinals in the mixed doubles tournament in 2004 at the Australian Open. They were defeated by Leander Paes and Martina Navratilova in the semifinals.[6]

Ram and Erlich won the Lyon tournament again in October 2004. They defeated Jonas Björkman and Radek Štěpánek 7–6, 6–2 in the final. Erlich and Ram's next major tournament win was in Rotterdam in February 2005. They beat Czechs Cyril Suk and Pavel Vízner 6–4, 4–6, 6–3 in the finals. Ram and Erlich missed the French Open in 2005 due to the death of Ram's father shortly before the tournament was due to start.[6] They reached 8th place in the doubles ranking at the end of 2005, and served as alternates at the Masters Cup in Shanghai.

Ram/Erlich at the 2008 Gerry Weber Open

2006–2010

Erlich and Ram claimed the Adelaide title in March 2006, defeating Russians Dmitry Tursunov and Igor Kunitsyn 6–3, 6–2.[7]

At the Cincinnati 1000 Masters, in August 2007, he and Ram won, upsetting the world No. 1 Bryan brothers 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 and Julian Knowle, 5–7, 6–7.

Erlich and Ram won their first Grand Slam at the 2008 Australian Open final against Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra 7–5, 7–6.

From September 2008 till May 2009 Erlich was recovering from right elbow surgery, and suffered setback after setback,[8] while Ram was playing doubles with other partners. The Israel Open 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 and Chris Guccione 6–3, 7–63. After the tournament Ram announced that he was going to finish the season with his temporary partner Max Mirnyi, before returning to play with Erlich on a permanent basis.[9] Later the same month, Erlich partnering Harel Levy won his first ATP tournament after returning to play, the Türk Telecom İzmir Cup (an ATP Challenger Tour event).

Erlich partnered with Novak Djokovic at the 2010 Queen's Club Championships winning the title.[10] 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.[11]

2022: Retirement

Erlich announced his retirement after his participation at the 2022 Tel Aviv Open partnering Novak Djokovic in September.[12] He had to withdraw in the last minute due to injury thus completing his professional career.[13]

Team Participation

Davis Cup

Erlich in Davis Cup competition

Playing for the Israel Davis Cup team 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, 2007 wins over Italy and Chile (in which he and Ram defeated Olympic Gold Medal winners González and Massú), and 2009 win over Russia.[14]

Israel (ranked 8th in the Davis Cup standings, with 5,394 points) hosted heavily favored Russia (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.[15] Israel was represented by Erlich, Ram, Dudi Sela, and Harel Levy. Russia's lineup consisted of Marat Safin (# 24 in the world; former world # 1), Igor Andreev (26), Igor Kunitsyn (35), and Mikhail Youzhny (44; former world # 8).[16][17] 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."[18] 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 likened his players to two fighter jets 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.[19] 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.[20] "This is something I will cherish for all of my life," said Erlich.[21] 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."[22] Even the Saudi Gazette described the doubles match as a "thrilling" win.[23] Ran was carried shoulder-high around the Tel Aviv stadium, as the 10,000-strong crowd applauded.[24] With the tie clinched for Israel, the reverse singles rubbers were "dead", and instead of best-of-five matches, best-of-three sets were played, with the outcomes of little to no importance.[21] 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.[25]

Olympics

Erlich and Ram represented Israel at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, and reached the quarterfinals. They also represented Israel at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

Major finals

Doubles: 1 (1 title)

More information Outcome, Year ...

ATP career finals

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

More information Legend, Titles by surface ...
More information Result, W–L ...

Challenger and Futures finals

Singles: 1 (0–1)

More information Legend (singles), Titles by surface ...
More information Result, W–L ...

Doubles: 48 (32–16)

More information Legend (doubles), Titles by surface ...
More information Result, W–L ...

Doubles performance timeline

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# P# DNQ A Z# PO G S B NMS NTI P NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
More information Tournament, SR ...

See also


References

  1. Blas, Howard (27 August 2008). "Jewish players stop in New Haven on the way to U.S. Open". The Jewish Ledger. Archived from the original on 28 June 2009. Retrieved 4 June 2009.
  2. Blas, Howard (30 August 2006). ":: Welcome To The Jewish Ledger ::". Jewishledger.com. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
  3. Bunder, Leslie. "Sport". SomethingIsraeli. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
  4. Tuero, Aubri (2 March 2023). "Yoni Erlich Goes Back to his Roots - Israel Tennis & Education Centers". Israel Tennis & Education Centers - Improve the Lives of CHILDREN Across Israel & the Middle East. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  5. "Erlich, Jonathan". Jews in Sports. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  6. Nik Petrovic (15 July 2006). "Trophy double for Erlich and Ram – nottingham.lta.org.uk". Archived from the original on 15 July 2006. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  7. "Sinai Says: A quandary between loyalty and success for Andy Ram". Jerusalem Post. 8 April 2009. Retrieved 30 August 2011. [permanent dead link]
  8. "Players". daviscup.com. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
  9. Lewis, Ori (10 July 2009). "Levy and Sela win to stun Russia in Tel Aviv". Reuters. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  10. "Dimon, Ricky, "Singles rubbers dead as Israel finishes off Russia," Tennis Talk, 7/11/09, accessed 7/11/09". Tennistalk.com. January 1, 1991. Archived from the original on February 6, 2010. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
  11. ""Israel make Davis Cup history, USA stay alive," 7/11/09, accessed 7/11/09". The Malaysia Star. 12 July 2009. Archived from the original on 19 July 2009. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
  12. "Saudi Gazette/ Home Page". www.saudigazette.com.sa. Archived from the original on 20 July 2009.
  13. "Israel completes Davis Cup win over Russia," Archived 19 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine Miami Herald, 7/12/09/accessed 29 August 2011

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