Israel | |
---|---|
Captain | Jonathan Erlich |
ITF ranking | 30 (20 September 2021) |
Highest ITF ranking | 6 (July 14, 2009) |
Colors | Blue & White |
First year | 1949 |
Years played | 65 |
Ties played (W–L) | 116 (50–66) |
Years in World Group | 10 (3–10) |
Best finish | Semifinal (2009) |
Most total wins | Shlomo Glickstein (44–22) |
Most singles wins | Shlomo Glickstein (31–13) |
Most doubles wins | Jonathan Erlich (24–12) |
Best doubles team | Jonathan Erlich & Andy Ram (19–5) |
Most ties played | Jonathan Erlich (36) |
Most years played | Jonathan Erlich (19) |
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 Captain of the team.[1]
The team plays primarily in Canada Stadium, which is the main venue of the Tennis Center in Ramat Hasharon, Tel Aviv District, Israel. 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.[2]
Over the protests of all four of their own players (including Harel Levy, who said: ""Only Ramat Hasharon. We're not even thinking about Nokia. 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.[2][3] 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.[3] 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.[3] This was the second time Israel played a home match at Yad Eliyahu Arena, the previous one have been against France in 1989.