Jonathan Erlich

Infobox Tennis player
playername= Jonathan Erlich


country= flag|Israel
residence= Tel Aviv, Israel
datebirth= birth date and age|1977|4|5
placebirth= Buenos Aires, Argentina
height= height|m=1.80
weight= convert|81|kg|lb st|abbr=on|lk=on
turnedpro= 1996
plays= Right; One- handed backhand
careerprizemoney= $1,578,642
singlesrecord= 6–6
singlestitles= 0
highestsinglesranking= 292 (4 October, 1999)
AustralianOpenresult= DNP
FrenchOpenresult= DNP
Wimbledonresult= DNP
USOpenresult= DNP
doublesrecord= 206–139
doublestitles= 13
highestdoublesranking= 5 (7 July, 2008)
grandslamsdoublesresults=Yes
AustralianOpenDoublesresult=W (2008)
FrenchOpenDoublesresult=3rd (2004, 2007)
WimbledonDoublesresult=SF (2003)
USOpenDoublesresult=QF (2005)
OthertournamentsDoubles= Yes
MastersCupDoublesresult=RR (2006, 2007)
OlympicsDoublesresult=QF (2004)
updated= 4 August, 2008

Jonathan Dario "Yoni" Erlich (Hebrew: יונתן דאריו "יוני" ארליך, born April 5, 1977) is a professional right-handed Israeli tennis player. Erlich has reached 24 doubles finals and won 13 of them, mostly with partner Andy Ram.

Background

Erlich was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He moved to Haifa, Israel when he was one-year-old, and now resides in Tel Aviv 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. [http://www.somethingisraeli.com/articles/102_israel_s_tennis_ace.htm] 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.

Tennis career

1996-2005

Erlich and Andy 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 No. 2 seeded Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor in straight sets, 7–6 (10-8), 7–6 (7–2), 7–6 (9–7), before losing in the semifinals to defending Wimbledon champions Jonas Björkman and Todd Woodbridge. They were the first Israelis to ever advance to the semifinals in any Grand Slam event.

They won their first doubles title at the Thailand Open in September 2003.

In October they won their second doubles title in three weeks by capturing the Grand Prix de Lyon, defeating the French team of Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut 6–1, 6–3 in the final.

Erlich and partner Liezel Huber of South Africa advanced to the semifinals in the mixed doubles tournament in 2004 at the Australian Open by beating the top-seeded team of Mark Knowles and Virginia Ruano Pascual 6–7 (6–8), 6–3, 7–6 (7–5) in the quarterfinals. They finally fell to the 4th-seeded pair Leander Paes and Martina Navratilova in the semifinals.

Ram and Erlich won the Lyon tournament for the second year running in October 2004. They met the premier duo Jonas Björkman and Radek Štěpánek in the final and beat them emphatically, 7–6(2), 6–2.

Erlich and Ram won their fourth major tournament in Rotterdam in February 2005. They beat Czechs Cyril Suk and Pavel Vizner 6–4, 4–6, 6–3 in the finals.

Ram and Erlich missed the 2005 Roland Garros grand slam tournament. Ram's father had passed away as he was preparing to fly to France.

They reached 8th place in the doubles ranking at the end of 2005, and served as alternates at the Masters Cup in Shanghai.

2006-current

Erlich and Ram claimed the Adelaide title in the first week of the 2006 season.

Erlich and Ram in March 2006 defeated the Russian finalists Dmitry Tursunov and Igor Kunitsyn 6–3, 6–2 to retain their Red Letter Days Open doubles title. Erlich and Ram became the first to successfully defend the doubles title in Nottingham. [http://nottingham.lta.org.uk/News/060624Doubles.htm]

In November 2006 they defeated the world # 1 ranked Bryan brothers at the Tennis Masters Cup in China, 7–6 (2), 2–6, 6–1.

At Cincinnati, at the ATP Masters, in August he and Ram won, upsetting the world # 1 Bryan brothers in the final 4–6, 6–3, 13-11.

At the US Open, he played doubles with Ram, losing in the round of 16 to the eventual winners Simon Aspelin and Julian Simon, 5–7, 6–7 (4).

The team won their first Grand Slam by winning the 2008 Australian Open final against Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra, 7–5, 7–6 (4).

Davis Cup

Playing for Israel in 2000 and from 2002-07, he has won 11 of his 15 matches, including wins in Israel's 2006 3–2 win over Great Britain, 2007 5–0 win over Luxembourg, and 2007 3–2 wins over Italy and Chile (in which he and Ram defeated Olympic Gold Medal winners Gonzalez and Massu). [http://www.daviscup.com/teams/player.asp?Player=10007858]

Olympics

Erlich and Ram represented Israel at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, and reached the quarterfinals.

Grand Slam doubles finals

Win (1)

Runner-ups (12)

External links

*ATP|id=E152
* [http://www.erlichandram.com Official Website]
* [http://www.daviscup.com/teams/player.asp?Player=10007858 Davis Cup bio]
* [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Erlich.html Jewish Virtual Library bio]
* [http://www.jewsinsports.org/profile.asp?sport=tennis&ID=105 Jews in Sports bio]