Amos Mansdorf
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Amos Mansdorf (born October 20, 1965, in Tel Aviv, Israel) is a former professional tennis player from Israel, who is the most successful male player in the country's history.
He reached his career-high ranking of # 18 in November 1987.
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[edit] Tennis career
Mansdorf did not start playing tennis until he was ten years old.
In 1983 Mansdorf won the Asian Junior Championshop in Hong Kong.
Mansdorf turned professional in 1983. When he was 18 years old, Amos entered the army. He was unable to practice while other international players were doing so twice a day, because his basic training was too intense. Still, Mansdorf was allowed to continue to play on the ATP tour on a limited basis.
He won his first tour singles title in 1986 at Johannesburg, beating the American Matt Anger in the final.
His second singles title came the following year in his home-town of Ramat Hasharon, near Tel Aviv.
The third title was in January 1988 at Auckland.
The same year in October he won the biggest title of his career at the Paris Open (now part of the Tennis Masters Series). He beat Brad Gilbert in the final in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.
Mansdorf won another title at Rosmalen in the Netherlands in 1990.
His best performance at a Grand Slam tournament came at the Australian Open in 1992, where he reached the quarter-finals before being knocked out by the eventual champion Jim Courier.
He reached the round of 16 at the U.S. Open and Wimbledon, and defeated such top players as Wimbledon champion Michael Stich and Boris Becker in other tournaments. Mansdorf reached the finals of the U.S. Pro Indoor Championships, but lost to Pete Sampras in the final.
Mansdorf's 6th and final career title came in 1993 at Washington DC.
In addition to these 6 titles, he reached 10 other finals but lost, 4 of them in Ramat Hasharon.
Mansdorf at times displayed a temper. One time, after jumping over the net and pushing an opponent who he thought was cheating, he was suspended for a month.
He retired in 1994. He suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome, which wouldn't allow him to practice or play with maximum effort all the time.
During his career he won 304 matches and lost 231, and earned prize money of 2,412,691 US$.
[edit] Davis Cup
In Davis Cup, Mansdorf played 10 years and won 22 matches against 25 losses. He played a major role in Israel's success in this competition, when Israel played 6 years in the world group between 1987 and 1994.
Between 2000 and 2004 he served as Davis Cup captain.
[edit] Olympics
Mansdorf played at the demonstration event of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and lost in the first round.
He also played at 1988 Olympics in Seoul, where tennis was an official sport, and this time reached the 3rd round (last-16).
He also qualified for 1992 Olympics but had to withdraw due to injury.
[edit] Miscellaneous
- Mansdorf trained at the Israel Tennis Centers. [1]
- Following his retirement, Mansdorf continued to remain active in Israeli tennis, and is currently the Chairman of the Israel Tennis Center and Israel Tennis Association's program for promising young tennis players.
- He is also a diamond seller in Ramat Aviv.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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