Israelis Very Proud Of Defeating Federer In Olympic Doubles

Written by: Staff on 2nd August 2012

Israelis Very Proud Of Defeating Federer In Olympic Doubles

epa03066712 Andy Ram of Israel (R) and Jonathan Erlich of Israel in action during their men's doubles first round match against Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan of USA at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 19 January 2012. EPA/MAST IRHAM |

Politicians are turning into sports fans like everyone else at the Olympic Games and Israel ’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, a known tennis follower, was fulsome in his praise for the doubles pair of Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich who ousted defending gold medalists Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland from the Men’s Doubles.

Lieberman wrote on his Facebook page, “As a tennis fan I salute tonight Israeli tennis players Israeli Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich, who made a huge achievement for Israeli sports and for them personally, when they beat the champions from the last Olympic Games led by Roger Federer.”

He added, “We’re all keeping our fingers crossed for them in the quarterfinal match against the Bryan brothers, and though the road is still long, an Israeli Olympic medal in tennis will make me particularly happy.” The Bryans defeated the Israelis 7-6, 7-6 Thursday.

The unseeded Israelis produced a stunning fight back to beat the Beijing champions 1-6, 7-6, 6-3 and after losing the first set in just 28 minutes.

Ram admitted: “We were nervous in the beginning but we got our act together in the second set. This is a massive achievement. It’s amazing to beat Roger Federer but I insist this win is just another step towards the big goal.”

Erlich agreed and said: “”We struggled at the beginning, we were a bit excited to be playing on the same court as the best player in the world. We came here to go all the way and not just to beat Federer.”

Things were not set to get any easier for Erllch and Ram and the pair were scheduled to face top seeds and tournament favorites Bob and Mike Bryan of the United States in the quarter-finals on Thursday morning.

Federer admitted he found the conditions difficult after being designated tto play out on the All England Club’s Court No.18 rather than his usual domain of Centre or No.1 Court . “It was breezy with a lot of shadow on the court,” said the singles world no.1. “Honestly, I thought they struggled a lot with that and it was really on our rackets.

“It was a pity we couldn’t create a few more maybe opportunities throughout the second set. But obviously they found a bit of a way to get back into the match. Things just didn’t fall our way. They definitely played better once the shadows from the flags and all the spectators went.”

Wawrinka said: “Doubles can be really tough. One or two point can change the match, especially on grass court. It was really not easy. We played better the two first sets, but that’s tennis. For us, was not easy.”

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: Andy Ram, Israeli tennis news, Jonathan Erlich, London Olympics 2012, Roger Federerm Stanislas Wawrinka, Swiss tennis news