On March 5, our team starts the match against Israel
Israel advanced to the next round of the Davis Cup after defeating Turkey (3:1). Matches were held in Antalya on clay. The Kyiv meeting will be held indoors on hard, but this is not important – the Israelis are accustomed to just such coverage.
The Ukrainian national team will meet with the Israeli team for the third time. The opponent is successful for us, but we should not forget that they are higher in the Davis Cup ranking and were seeded in the draw for the matches of the First World Group. Twice the teams met each other, both times Ukraine won. The first tense victory in 1999 is a thing of bygone years, but the 2017 match is much closer to today’s realities. Then the Ukrainians defeated the opponent on their courts, winning all the matches.
Now we have Ilya Marchenko and Denis Molchanov in our squad. The Israelis have Edan Leshem, and 43-year-old native of Argentina Jonathan Erlich. The latter is a real star of Israeli tennis, but as a playing captain he will only enter the court in pairs.
It is worth dwelling on Leshem in more detail. Four years ago, he lost two of his matches to Alexander Dolgopolov and Ilya Marchenko. But it should be remembered that at that time he was only 20 years old. Now, a week before his 24th birthday, the Israeli is much more experienced.
Edano is right-handed and is now in the fourth hundred of the rankings. This year he managed to play only twice, losing both matches on futures in January. It should be noted that these were clay fights – the Israeli does not like this surface. On hard and indoors, he performs much better. Since the beginning of last season, he has 21 wins and 16 losses on these surfaces. Most importantly, he won his only Davis Cup match against the nominally stronger Turk Kem Ilkel. Ilkel is a player who is about 200th in the rating, this is already not far from Marchenko’s positions.
The second rate of the Israelis is 21-year-old Yishai Oliel. A southpaw with a two-handed left hand can cause inconvenience to an unprepared opponent. Oliel is a 500 ranked player who was constantly progressing until the epidemic intervened. Over the past year, he played little in international competitions, playing more domestically. Quite successfully – potentially now he is the strongest among the Israeli team (4:1 in head-to-head meetings against Leshem) and can add to the game.
His last experience in the national team dates back to 2018. Victory over Vaclav Szafranek, defeat with Erlich against the Czech duo in pairs.
The only Israeli tennis player to lose his match against the Turks is Ben Patael. He closes the sixth hundred of the rating, and this is quite consistent with his game. Unstable, can beat a strong opponent, but this is rather an exception. It is unlikely that he will start the match against the Ukrainians from the very first day. Rather, the Israelis use it as a fresh change in the final.
Another announced player is Daniel Zuckerman. In the singles ranking is far in the eighth hundred. According to this indicator, he is weak in the team. To put it bluntly, every tennis player of the Ukrainian national team must confidently win a solo duel against Daniel. His appearance is more likely to be paired with Erlich (as in the match against Turkey).
However, one thing is worth remembering – there can be no underestimation. Zuckerman won both of his fights against the Turks, including a single against the much stronger Ilkel.
The last representative of the Israelis is the 43-year-old team captain Jonathan Erlich. Despite his age, he continues to perform in pairs, and he does it very successfully. At the end of February, he, together with the Belarusian Andrei Vasilevsky, reached the final of the ATP doubles tournament in Montpellier, where he lost to the first seeded Henry Continent and Eduard Roger-Vasselin.
Erlich is the winner of the Australian Open in pairs in 2008, at one time he was ranked 5th in the ranking. Now he is on the 68th place in the pair rating.
Jonathan’s best years were performing with another South American-born Israeli, Andy Ram. After Andy ended his career, there is a significant decline in Ehrlich’s game. This also affected the performances in the national team – partners were constantly changing, but this did not give a result. However, Erlich won the last two fights with Daniel Zuckerman. The Ukrainians need to responsibly prepare for the doubles match against them.
The Israeli national team does not have tennis players of the level of Sergei Stakhovsky and Ilya Marchenko. The strongest weapon of our opponents is the doubles match, but Ukrainians must win single matches confidently. However, we should not forget that young Israeli tennis players knocked out a nominally strong Turkey on an uncomfortable surface for themselves. And Erlich, at the age of 43, shows a powerful game, and is on the rise after a successful tournament.
Collected and responsible approach to the match is the key to overall success.
Source: Sportarena
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