Jewish players at Pilot Pen
September 1, 2005 by Howard Blas
NEW
HAVEN-In the second round of the men’s doubles at the Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament last week, Jewish players were on both sides of the net
Israelis Andy Ram and Jonathan “Yoni” Erlich faced Justin Gimelstob and his (non-Jewish) partner, Jim Thomas.
Andy Ram, 25, was one of four male qualifiers to enter the main draw. Ram won three matches in a two-day,
32-person qualifying tournament which preceded the Pilot Pen. Ram, who rarely plays singles and is ranked 454th, had little difficulty defeating the world’s 56th ranked Ricardo Mello of Brazil 6-1, 6-4. Ram lost his second round singles match to the tournament’s 7th seed, Nicolas Massu of Chile, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5.
Ram and his doubles partner, Yoni Erlich, ranked 24th and 22th respectively in the world in mens’ doubles, survived a come-from-behind three set match against the tournament’s second seeded Mahesh Bhupathi of India and Martin Damm of the Czech Republic in the first round, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4. Ram and Erlich have been friends since their early teen years where they both trained at Israel’s Wingate Institute. For Erlich, the victory was particularly satisfying.
“I played against Bhupathi eight years ago in New Haven and he beat me in the quarterfinals of the mens singles. I feel like I closed the circuit.” Ram and Erlich have won two tournaments this summer in Nottingham and Rotterdam, and they have reached the finals in tournaments in Los Angeles and Montreal.
A third Jewish player in the Pilot Pen, Justin Gimelstob, entered the tournament after receiving a “wild card.” Gimbelstob, the world’s 99th
ranked player, trains in Florida. The colorful,
crowd-pleasing Gimbelstob entered Stadium Court at 10pm on Monday night for his match against qualifier Guillermo
Garica-Lopez of Spain. The fast-serving, 6’5” Gimbelstob left the stadium a winner, at 12:35am, with no more than 100 people left in the stadium. He defeated
Garcia-Lopez 3-6, 7-5, 7-6. Gimelstob lost in the second round of mens singles to the tournament’s number two seed, Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.
Gimelstob and Jim Thomas, recipients of a wild card for mens doubles, defeated Petr Pala of the Czech Republic and Vincent Spadea of the U.S. 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. In the second round, Gimelstob and Thomas faced Erlich and Ram.
The Israelis, clad in matching royal blue and white Fila shirts, white shorts, white hats and Wilson tennis rackets, were nearly flawless in the first set. The colorful Gimelstob entertained with his sarcastic comments, some audible and others said under his breath.
“Why don’t you get a refund on those glasses? You are pathetic!” he shouted at a female line judge while down
4-1 in the first set. Down
5-1 with Erlich to serve, Gimelstob held up his hand, requesting that Erlich wait a minute.
“Sorry, Yoni!” said Gimbelstob, stopping to stare at a fan in the stands whose cell phone continued to ring.
Despite Ram and Erlich’s
6-1 victory in the first set, Gimelstob and Thomas battled back to win the next set 6-2. Ram and Erich, down 5-3,
0-4 in the third set (triple match point) managed to win one more game before losing the final set 6-4. Gimelstob and Thomas advanced to the semi-finals, and Ram and Erlich left for New York to prepare for the U.S. Open.
The Pilot Pen, considered to be the warmup to the U.S. Open, was held Aug.19-28 at the Connecticut Tennis Center at Yale University. This year’s tournament, a U.S. Open Series event, featured mens and womens singles and doubles.