Israel Tennis Association
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| Sport | Tennis |
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| Jurisdiction | National |
| Abbreviation | (ITA) |
| Affiliation | International Tennis Federation |
| Regional affiliation | Tennis Europe |
| Official website | |
| www |
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The Israel Tennis Association (the "ITA"; Hebrew: איגוד הטניס בישראל), founded in 1950, is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in Israel. The ITA governs the arrangements for Israeli tennis leagues and tournaments, Israel's Davis Cup participation, and Israeli participation in tennis tournaments abroad. It has a history of stormy relationships with some of Israel's top players and the Israel Tennis Centers.
David "Dedi" Harnik was chairman of the ITA from 1980 to 1988.
Kollie Friedstein, also the executive director of the Israel Tennis Centers ("ITC") and one of the founders of Kibbutz Shoval in the Negev, become chairman of the ITA in 1988 for a 2-year period, at which time "a state of turbulence" existed between the ITA and the ITC. Appointed to head both bodies at the same time, Friedstein felt that by 1990 he had succeeded in bringing "industrial peace" between them.
In October 1990 Harnik was re-elected chairman of the ITA, a position that he held for many years.
In early 1996, Amos Mansdorf got into a tiff with the ITA when he accused it of mismanagement, suggesting that it was run in "an amateur fashion".
In 2005, during at the peak of a disagreement between the Israeli Davis Cup players and the ITA, Eyal Ran was made Israeli Davis Cup captain. Ran spoke to the players and the association and settled the crisis.
The ITA announced the return of professional tennis to Israel in 2006; the Anda Open high-level WTA tournament for top women players, featuring more than US $140,000 (NIS 643,000) in prize money. The event was to be the first world-class pro tennis in Israel since the Ramat Gan Men's Tennis Tournament was cancelled several years prior. But the ITA cancelled the tournament in August 2006, citing the precarious security situation in the region. The ITA said the decision to cancel the event was taken after Sony Ericsson WTA Tour CEO Larry Scott wrote to them informing them that under the circumstances, the event could not be held. The 2007 tournament remained on the calendar.
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