Eyal Ran

Eyal Ran (born November 21, 1972, in Qiryat Ono, Israel) is a professional Israeli tennis player and Captain of the Israeli Davis Cup team.

His career high ATP ranking in singles was 138 (21-Apr-97), and in doubles it was 71 (11-Oct-99).

He turned pro in 1992. In August 1993 he upset Jonas Svensson of Sweden, ranked # 37 in the world, in Long Island, New York, 6–1, 6–3.

After playing at the Australian Open in 1996 and 1997 in the singles competition (he lost in the 2nd round both years), Ran played in his first doubles Grand Slam in 1999, reaching the 2nd round at the French Open (he lost in the first round at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open).

The following year, he played doubles in all four Grand Slam events, reaching the 2nd round at Wimbledon, but losing in the first round of the other three tournaments. In 2001, Ran reached the 2nd round at the Australian Open, but lost in the first round of the French Open and Wimbledon (with partner Noam Behr).

He often played Challengers and qualifying tournaments for major events.

He also played on the Israel Davis Cup team.

In 2005, during at the peak of a disagreement between the Israeli Davis Cup players and the Israel Tennis Association, Ran was made Israeli Davis Cup captain. Ran spoke to the players and the association and settled the crisis.

Israel (ranked 8th in the Davis Cup standings, with 5,394 points) hosted heavily favored Russia (which won in both 2002 and 2006, and was 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. Israel was represented by Dudi Sela, Andy Ram, Jonathan Erlich, 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). 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." 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. 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 10,500 spectators were the largest crowd ever for a tennis match in Israel. The next day Ram and Erlich beat Safin and Kunitsyn 6–3, 6–4, 6–7 (3), 4–6, 6–4 in front of a boisterous crowd of over 10,000. Even the Saudi Gazette described the doubles match as a "thrilling" win. Ran was carried shoulder-high around the Tel Aviv stadium, as the 10,000-strong crowd applauded. 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. Israel wrapped up a 4–1 victory over Russia, as Levy defeated Kunitsyn 6–4, 4–6, 7–6 (2), while Sela retired with a wrist injury while down 3–4 in the first set against Andreev. In the subsequent Spain defeated Israel in Israel's first appearance in the Davis Cup semifinals. In 2010, Israel lost to Chile in the first round, and to Austria in the Playoffs, and will participate in the Europe/Africa Group I in 2011.

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