Jonathan Erlich

Jonathan Erlich

Country (sports)	Israel
Residence	Tel Aviv, Israel
Born	April 5, 1977 Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro	1996
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	$2,283,122
Singles
Career record	6–6
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 292 (October 4, 1999)
Grand Slam Singles results
Wimbledon	Q2 (1999)
Doubles
Career record	327–256
Career titles	18
Highest ranking	No. 5 (July 7, 2008)
Current ranking	No. 60 (February 1, 2015)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	W (2008)
French Open	3R (2004, 2007, 2008, 2014)
Wimbledon	SF (2003, 2015)
US Open	QF (2005)
Other doubles tournaments
Tour Finals	RR (2006, 2007)
Olympic Games	QF (2004, 2012)
Team competitions
Davis Cup	SF (2009)
Last updated on: February 1, 2016.

Jonathan Dario "Yoni" Erlich (Hebrew: יונתן דאריו "יוני" ארליך‎, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, April 5, 1977) is a professional Israeli tennis player. He plays doubles, primarily.

He won the men's doubles title at the 2008 Australian Open with Andy Ram.

He attained his highest doubles ranking of World No. 5 in July 2008. Erlich has reached 30 doubles finals and won 17 of them, mostly with partner Andy Ram; together, they are known in Israel as "Andyoni". His Davis Cup doubles record, as of 2013, was 17–7.

Background

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 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.^[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]

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.^[5]

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.^[5]

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.^[5]

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.^[5] 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–present

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

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. In November, they again defeated the world # 1 ranked Bryan brothers at the Tennis Masters Cup in China, 7–6, 2–6, 6–1. At the US Open, he played doubles with Ram, losing to the eventual winners Simon Aspelin and Julian Simon, 5–7, 6–7. The team won their first Grand Slam by winning 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,^[7] while Ram was playing doubles with other partners. The Israel Open ATP Challenger tournament in May 2009 was the first where the two reunited. Erlich and Ram 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.^[8] 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).

Davis Cup

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.^[9]

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.^[10][11] 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).^[12][13] 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."^[14] 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.^[15] 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.^[16] "This is something I will cherish for all of my life," said Erlich.^[17] 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."^[18] Even the Saudi Gazette described the doubles match as a "thrilling" win.^[19] Ran was carried shoulder-high around the Tel Aviv stadium, as the 10,000-strong crowd applauded.^[20] 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.^[17] 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.^[21]

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 (1–0)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Winner	2008	Australian Open	Hard	Andy Ram	Arnaud Clément Michaël Llodra	7–5, 7–6^(7–4)

ATP career finals

Doubles: 35 (18 titles, 17 runners-up)

Legend (pre/post 2009) Grand Slam Tournaments (1–0) ATP World Tour Finals (0) ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (2–4) ATP World Tour 500 Series (1–3) ATP World Tour 250 Series (13–8)

Wins by Surface Hard (10–12) Clay (1–1) Grass (5–2) Carpet (2–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1.	July 10, 2000	Campbell's Hall of Fame Championships, Newport, United States	Grass	Harel Levy	Kyle Spencer Mitch Sprengelmeyer	7–6^(7–2), 7–5
Winner	2.	September 29, 2003	Thailand Open, Bangkok, Thailand	Hard	Andy Ram	Jarkko Nieminen Andrew Kratzmann	6–3, 7–6^(7–4)
Winner	3.	October 13, 2003	Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon, Lyon, France	Carpet	Andy Ram	Nicolas Mahut Julien Benneteau	6–1, 6–3
Runner-up	1.	January 11, 2004	Chennai Open, Chennai, India	Hard	Andy Ram	Rafael Nadal Tommy Robredo	6–7^(3–7), 6–4, 3–6
Runner-up	2.	February 22, 2004	ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, Rotterdam, Netherlands	Hard	Andy Ram	Paul Hanley Radek Štěpánek	7–5, 6–7^(5–7), 5–7
Winner	4.	October 11, 2004	Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon, Lyon, France	Carpet	Andy Ram	Radek Štěpánek Jonas Björkman	7–6^(7–2), 6–2
Winner	5.	February 25, 2005	ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, Rotterdam, Netherlands	Hard	Andy Ram	Cyril Suk Pavel Vízner	6–4, 4–6, 6–3
Winner	6.	June 20, 2005	Nottingham Open, Nottingham, England	Grass	Andy Ram	Simon Aspelin Todd Perry	4–6, 6–3, 7–5
Runner-up	3.	July 31, 2005	Countrywide Classic, Los Angeles, United States	Hard	Andy Ram	Rick Leach Brian MacPhie	3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	4.	August 13, 2005	Rogers Cup, Montreal, Canada	Hard	Andy Ram	Wayne Black Kevin Ullyett	7–6^(7–5), 3–6, 0–6
Runner-up	5.	October 2, 2005	Thailand Open, Bangkok, Thailand	Hard (i)	Andy Ram	Paul Hanley Leander Paes	6–5^(7–5), 1–6, 2–6
Runner-up	6.	October 16, 2005	BA-CA TennisTrophy, Vienna, Austria	Hard (i)	Andy Ram	Mark Knowles Daniel Nestor	3–5, 4–5^(2–5)
Winner	7.	January 9, 2006	Next Generation Adelaide International, Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Andy Ram	Paul Hanley Kevin Ullyett	7–6^(7–4), 7–6^(12–10)
Runner-up	7.	February 26, 2006	ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, Rotterdam, Netherlands	Hard (i)	Andy Ram	Paul Hanley Kevin Ullyett	6–7^(4–7), 6–7^(2–7)
Runner-up	8.	May 13, 2006	Rome Masters, Rome, Italy	Clay	Andy Ram	Mark Knowles Daniel Nestor	4–6, 7–5, [11–13]
Winner	8.	June 26, 2006	Nottingham Open, Nottingham, England	Grass	Andy Ram	Igor Kunitsyn Dmitry Tursunov	6–3, 6–3
Winner	9.	August 28, 2006	Pilot Pen Tennis, New Haven, United States	Hard	Andy Ram	Mariusz Fyrstenberg Marcin Matkowski	6–3, 6–3
Winner	10.	October 2, 2006	Thailand Open, Bangkok, Thailand	Hard	Andy Ram	Andy Murray Jamie Murray	6–2, 2–6, [10–4]
Runner-up	9.	March 4, 2007	ATP Las Vegas, Las Vegas, United States	Hard	Andy Ram	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	6–7^(6–8), 2–6
Runner-up	10.	March 18, 2007	Indian Wells Masters, Indian Wells, United States	Hard	Andy Ram	Martin Damm Leander Paes	4–6, 4–6
Runner-up	11.	August 5, 2007	ATP Washington, Washington, United States	Hard	Andy Ram	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	6–7^(5–7), 6–3, [7–10]
Winner	11.	August 19, 2007	Cincinnati Masters, Cincinnati, United States	Hard	Andy Ram	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	4–6, 6–3, [13–11]
Winner	12.	January 26, 2008	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Andy Ram	Arnaud Clément Michaël Llodra	7–5, 7–6^(7–4)
Winner	13.	March 21, 2008	Indian Wells Masters, Indian Wells, United States	Hard	Andy Ram	Daniel Nestor Nenad Zimonjić	6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	12.	August 3, 2008	Cincinnati Masters, Cincinnati, United States	Hard	Andy Ram	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	6–4, 6–7^(2–7), [7–10]
Winner	14.	June 13, 2010	AEGON Championships, London, United Kingdom	Grass	Novak Djokovic	Karol Beck David Škoch	6–7^(6–8), 6–2, [10–3]
Runner-up	13.	October 3, 2010	Thailand Open, Bangkok, Thailand	Hard (i)	Jürgen Melzer	Christopher Kas Viktor Troicki	4–6, 4–6
Winner	15.	June 20, 2011	AEGON International, Eastbourne, United Kingdom	Grass	Andy Ram	Grigor Dimitrov Andreas Seppi	6–3, 6–3
Winner	16.	August 27, 2011	Winston-Salem Open, Winston-Salem, United States	Hard	Andy Ram	Christopher Kas Alexander Peya	7–6^(7–2), 6–4
Runner-up	14.	January 8, 2012	Chennai Open, Chennai, India	Hard	Andy Ram	Leander Paes Janko Tipsarević	4–6, 4–6
Winner	17.	May 6, 2012	Serbia Open, Belgrade, Serbia	Clay	Andy Ram	Martin Emmrich Andreas Siljeström	4–6, 6–2, [10–6]
Runner-up	15.	June 16, 2013	Gerry Weber Open, Halle, Germany	Grass	Daniele Bracciali	Santiago González Scott Lipsky	2–6, 6–7^(3–7)
Runner-up	16.	July 13, 2014	Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, Newport, United States	Grass	Rajeev Ram	Lleyton Hewitt Chris Guccione	5–7, 4–6
Winner	18.	October 4, 2015	Shenzhen Open, Shenzhen, China	Hard	Colin Fleming	Chris Guccione André Sá	6–1, 6–7^(3–7), [10–6]
Runner-up	17.	February 21, 2016	Open 13, Marseille, France	Hard (i)	Colin Fleming	Mate Pavić Michael Venus	2–6, 3–6

Doubles Performance Timeline

Key

W

F

SF

QF

R#

RR

Q#

A

P

Z#

PO

G

F-S

SF-B

NMS

NH

(W) Won tournament; reached (F) final, (SF) semifinal, (QF) quarterfinal; (R#) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; competed at a (RR) round-robin stage; reached a (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent from tournament; played in a (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; won a (G) gold, (F-S) silver or (SF-B) bronze Olympic medal; a (NMS) downgraded Masters Series/1000 tournament; or (NH) tournament not held.

To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated either at the conclusion of a tournament, or when the player's participation in the tournament has ended.

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	SR	W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	1R	1R	A	2R	3R	2R	3R	W	A	QF	2R	1R	3R	1R	3R	1 / 12	19–11
French Open	A	A	1R	A	3R	A	2R	3R	3R	1R	2R	1R	2R	2R	3R	A	0 / 11	12–11
Wimbledon	A	2R	1R	SF	1R	3R	3R	2R	QF	1R	1R	1R	2R	1R	1R	SF	0 / 14	13–14
US Open	1R	A	A	1R	1R	QF	3R	3R	2R	1R	2R	2R	2R	2R	1R	1R	0 / 13	12–13
Win–Loss	0–1	1–2	0–3	4–2	3–4	5–3	6–4	7–4	12–3	0–3	5–4	2–4	3–4	4–4	2–3	10-3	1 / 49	54–48
Year-End Championship
ATP World Tour Finals	A	A	A	A	A	A	RR	RR	A	A	A	A	A	A	A		0 / 2	2–4
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells	A	A	A	A	2R	2R	1R	F	W	A	A	2R	A	1R	2R	A	1 / 8	13–7
Miami	A	A	A	A	2R	QF	SF	1R	1R	A	A	QF	A	A	A	A	0 / 6	8–6
Monte Carlo	A	A	A	A	2R	A	2R	2R	QF	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 4	1–4
Rome	A	A	A	A	1R	1R	F	2R	2R	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 5	3–5
Madrid	A	A	A	A	1R	1R	QF	1R	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	0 / 5	1–5
Canada	A	A	A	A	QF	F	2R	SF	2R	A	A	A	A	A	A		0 / 5	7–5
Cincinnati	A	A	A	A	QF	1R	SF	W	F	1R	A	A	A	A	A		1 / 6	11–5
Shanghai	Not Masters Series									A	2R	A	A	A	A		0 / 1	1–1
Paris	A	A	A	A	A	QF	1R	1R	A	1R	2R	A	A	A	A		0 / 5	2–5
Hamburg	A	A	A	A	1R	1R	QF	SF	2R	Not Masters Series							0 / 5	3–5
Win–Loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	6–8	8–8	10–9	11–8	9–6	0–2	2–2	3–2	0–0	0–1	1–2		2 / 50	50–48
Year End Ranking	110	107	119	33	28	15	13	18	11	191	45	50	49	62	87

See also

• List of select Jewish tennis players

References

1. Blas, Howard, "Jewish players stop in New Haven on the way to U.S. Open," The Jewish Ledger, 8/27/08; accessed 6/4/09
2. Blas, Howard (August 30, 2006). ":: Welcome To The Jewish Ledger ::". Jewishledger.com. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
3. Bunder, Leslie. "Sport". SomethingIsraeli. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
4. Next time we will play at Ramat-Gan Stadium (Hebrew) NRGMaariv, July 11, 2009
5. "Erlich, Jonathan". Jews in Sports. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
6. Nik Petrovic (July 15, 2006). "Trophy double for Erlich and Ram – nottingham.lta.org.uk". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on July 15, 2006. Retrieved February 19, 2014.
7. "Sinai Says: A quandary between loyalty and success for Andy Ram". Jerusalem Post. April 8, 2009. Retrieved August 30, 2011.
8. Sinai, Allon (May 10, 2009). "Tennis: Ram/Erlich fall in final; Shahar retires with injury". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved May 12, 2009.
9. "Players". daviscup.com. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
10. "Israel drops Russia 2–0 in Davis Cup," Russia Today, 7/10/09, accessed 7/11/09
11. "Levy wins to give Israel shock lead," Hindustan Times, 7/10/09, accessed 7/11/09
12. "Nadal left off Spain team for Davis Cup, Associated Press, 6/30/09, accessed August 29, 2011
13. Sinai, Allon, "Int'l Tennis: Ram, Erlich expect the spark to return for Davis Cup tie," The Jerusalem Post, 7/3/09, accessed 7/3/09
14. "Spungin, Simon, "Davis Cup win was a very Israeli triumph," ''Haaretz'', 7/11/09, accessed 7/11/09". Haaretz.com. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
15. Lewis, Ori, "Levy and Sela win to stun Russia in Tel Aviv," Reuters, 7/10/09, accessed February 19, 2014
16. "Netanyahu: Davis Cup team has filled nation with pride," The Jerusalem Post, 7/11/09, accessed 7/11/09
17. "Dimon, Ricky, "Singles rubbers dead as Israel finishes off Russia," ''Tennis Talk'', 7/11/09, accessed 7/11/09". Tennistalk.com. January 1, 1991. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
18. ""Israel make Davis Cup history, USA stay alive," 7/11/09, accessed 7/11/09". The Malaysia Star. July 12, 2009. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
19. "Russia out, US hangs on in Davis Cup," Saudi Gazette, 7/12/09, 19 Rajab 1430, accessed 7/12/09
20. James, Dave (July 11, 2009). "James, Dave, "Israel make Davis Cup history, USA stay alive," ''AFP'', 7/11/09, accessed 7/11/09". Google.com. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
21. "Israel completes Davis Cup win over Russia," Miami Herald, 7/12/09/accessed August 29, 2011

External links

• Jonathan Erlich at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Davis Cup bio
• Jewish Virtual Library bio