Amos Mansdorf

Amos Mansdorf

Country	Israel
Residence	Tel Aviv, Israel
Born	(1965-10-20) 20 October 1965 Ramat HaSharon, Israel
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	73 kg (160 lb; 11.5 st)
Turned pro	1983
Retired	1994
Plays	Right-handed (1-handed backhand)
Prize money	$2,412,691
Singles
Career record	304–231
Career titles	6
Highest ranking	No. 18 (16 November 1987)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	QF (1992)
French Open	3R (1990)
Wimbledon	4R (1989)
US Open	4R (1990)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games	3R (1988)
Doubles
Career record	46–84
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 67 (19 May 1986)
Last updated on: October 28, 2012.

Amos Mansdorf (Hebrew: עמוס מנסדורף‎; born 20 October 1965, in Tel Aviv, Israel) is a former Israeli professional tennis player.

His career-high singles ranking was World No. 18 (achieved in November 1987), the highest ever for any male Israeli tennis player. His career-high doubles ranking was World No. 67 (May 1986).

Early life

Mansdorf grew up in Ramat HaSharon, a small city north of Tel Aviv. He started playing tennis when he was 10 years old. He trained at the Israel Tennis Centers.

Tennis career

1980s

In 1983 Mansdorf won the Asian Junior Championship in Hong Kong. That same year he turned professional, and started his mandatory Israeli army service. While he could not train as much during his service as he had would have liked, he was allowed to continue to play on the ATP tour on a limited basis. During his service he played at the demonstration event of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and lost in the first round.

Immediately after completing his service, in November 1986 he beat World # 5 Henri Leconte 6–2, 6–7, 6–3, in Wembley, United Kingdom. He won his first tour singles title later that month at Johannesburg, beating World # 10 Andrés Gómez 6–4, 6–4 in the quarterfinals, and defeating American Matt Anger in the final.

His second singles title came the following year in his hometown of Ramat Hasharon. In the semifinals he beat World # 6 Jimmy Connors, 7–6, 6–3, and in the finals he beat World # 12 Brad Gilbert, 3–6, 6–3, 6–4.

The third title was in January 1988 at Auckland. In March he beat World # 4 Boris Becker, 6–4, 6–4, in Orlando. In October that year he won the biggest title of his career at the Paris Open (now part of the Tennis Masters Series). He faced the World # 1 Mats Wilander, but the Swede retired before the tournament began. Mansdorf beat Aaron Krickstein and Jakob Hlasek, two top 10 players, on his way to the final. He beat Gilbert in the final in straight sets, 6–3, 6–2, 6–3.

He also played at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, where tennis was an official sport, and this time reached the 3rd round (last-16). In March 1989 in Scottsdale he upset World # 13 Thomas Muster, 7–5, 6–2, and World # 15 Gilbert 5–7, 6–3, 6–0.

1990s

Mansdorf won another title at Rosmalen in the Netherlands in 1990. In the third round of the US Open in 1990 he beat World # 8 Brad Gilbert 5–7, 5–7, 6–3, 7–6, 6–1. In September 1991 in Toulouse, he beat World # 11 Magnus Gustafsson, 6–4, 6–1.

His best performance at a Grand Slam tournament came at the Australian Open in 1992, where he reached the quarterfinals before losing to the eventual champion, Jim Courier. In February 1992 in Philadelphia, he upset World # 3 Michael Stich 7–6 (5), 7–5. In January 1993 in Sydney, he beat World # 13 Carlos Costa 6–1, 5–7, 6–4. He qualified for the 1992 Olympics, but had to withdraw because of injury.

Mansdorf's sixth and final career title came in 1993 at Washington, DC, during which he beat World # 11 Petr Korda 6–3, 6–3. In July 1994 in Toronto, he beat World # 8 Todd Martin 6–7 (4), 6–3, retired, and in August at Cincinnati he upset Korda (World # 14) 6–3, 6–3, and Boris Becker (World # 8), 7–6 (1), 6–4.

He reached the fourth round of the US Open and Wimbledon. Mansdorf reached the finals of the US Pro Indoor Championships, but lost to Pete Sampras in the final.

Mansdorf at times displayed a temper. Once, after jumping over the net and pushing an opponent who he thought was cheating, he was suspended for a month.

In early 1996, Mansdorf got into a tiff with the Israel Tennis Association when he accused it of mismanagement, suggesting that it was run in "an amateur fashion".[1]

In addition to his six titles, he reached ten other finals but lost, four of them in Ramat Hasharon. During his career, he won 304 matches and lost 231, and earned prize money of US$2,412,691.

Davis Cup

In Davis Cup, Mansdorf played 10 years and won 22 matches (second-most ever by an Israeli, to Shlomo Glickstein, through 2008) against 25 losses, including a 15–4 record in singles matches on hard courts or carpet. 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.

Retirement

Mansdorf retired in 1994. He suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome, which did not allow him to practice or play with maximum effort all the time.

2000s

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.

Between 2000 and 2004, he served as Davis Cup captain. His prime employment is as a diamond seller in Tel Aviv.

In 2005, he was voted the 178th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.

Career finals

Singles (6 titles - 10 runner-ups)

Legend

Grand Slam (0-0)

Tennis Masters Cup (0-0)

ATP Masters Series (1-0)

ATP Tour (5-10)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	20 October 1985	Tel Aviv	Hardcourt	Brad Gilbert	3-6, 2-6
Winner	1.	23 November 1986	Johannesburg	Hardcourt (i)	Matt Anger	6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5
Winner	2.	18 October 1987	Tel Aviv	Hardcourt	Brad Gilbert	3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Runner-up	2.	25 October 1987	Vienna	Hardcourt (i)	Jonas Svensson	6-1, 6-1, 2-6, 3-6, 5-7
Winner	3.	10 January 1988	Auckland	Hardcourt	Ramesh Krishnan	6-3, 6-4
Winner	4.	30 October 1988	Paris	Carpet (i)	Brad Gilbert	6-3, 6-2, 6-3
Runner-up	3.	15 January 1989	Auckland	Hardcourt	Ramesh Krishnan	4-6, 0-6
Runner-up	4.	30 April 1989	Singapore	Hardcourt	Kelly Jones	1-6, 5-7
Winner	5.	17 June 1990	Rosmalen	Grass	Alexander Volkov	6-3, 7-6
Runner-up	5.	14 October 1990	Tel Aviv	Hardcourt	Andrei Chesnokov	4-6, 3-6
Runner-up	6.	6 October 1991	Toulouse	Hardcourt (i)	Guy Forget	2-6, 6-7(4-7)
Runner-up	7.	23 February 1992	Philadelphia	Carpet (i)	Pete Sampras	1-6, 6-7(4-7), 6-2, 6-7(2-7)
Runner-up	8.	4 April 1993	Osaka	Hardcourt	Michael Chang	4-6, 4-6
Winner	6.	25 July 1993	Washington	Hardcourt	Todd Martin	7-6(7-3), 7-5
Runner-up	9.	17 October 1993	Tel Aviv	Hardcourt	Stefano Pescosolido	6-7(5-7), 5-7
Runner-up	10.	16 October 1994	Tel Aviv	Hardcourt	Wayne Ferreira	6-7(4-7), 3-6

See also

• List of select Jewish tennis players

External links

• Official ATP profile
• Davis Cup record
• Jews in Sports bio