Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich

Two Israeli veteran doubles players swept through the field and became the first team from Israel to claim a Grand Slam Championship on the final Saturday of the Australian open 2008.  The final match followed Maria Sharapova’s triumph in the Women’s singles and was delayed by rain for 30 minutes.  The Rod Laver Arena roof needed to be closed and the court dried before the Israeli men could complete their mission.

As the eight seeded team, Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich were pressed throughout the 108 minute straight set match by the seventh seeded French entry, and 2007 Wimbledon Champions, Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra.  With Israeli flags waving around the Rod Laver arena, the stirring Israeli win marked a successful tournament for Israeli doubles as country mate Shahar Peer claimed the runner-up trophy in Women’s Doubles.  Saturday was a big day at the Open and the brief rain delay did nothing to dampen the crowd’s enthusiasm as the fast-paced Men’s Doubles kept the fans engaged throughout the tense 7-5, 7-6 battle.

Lightning quick net play, power serving and blistering ground strokes characterized each point in the cleanly played finals.  The match featured only 5 unforced errors; all by the Frenchmen.  While the Israelis had 10 breakpoint opportunities, they were only able to capitalize on 2, as the French converted 1 of their 5 break opportunities.

Ram already has two Mixed Grand Slam championships at Wimbledon in 2006 and in France in 2007.  This marks Erlich’s first Grand Slam championship.  Their play and relationship has matured over the years.  Ram and Erlich displayed a coordinated effort that exemplifies their progress.  As best friends, the two rejoiced in the aftermath of the win.  Perhaps even more amazing than the final round performance is the fact that they did not lose a set during the entire tournament.

Andy and Jonathan knocked off India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles, who upset defending champs and number one seed Americans Bob and Mike Bryan, in the semis.  The stirring quarterfinal win left Bhupathi and Knowles with great credentials but lacking in energy for their semifinal match.  The Israeli Davis Cup stalwarts rocketed out of the starting gate and dominated play in registering their decisive two set win.

Ram, born in Montivedo, Uruguay, and Erlich, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, are both right-handed and each has career earnings over $1,000,000 USD.  Both players now reside in Tel Aviv.  At 30 years old and at 5 foot 11 inches, Erlich seems well-suited for the 27 year old, 5 foot 11 inch Ram.  While neither player ranks highly on the professional singles tour, both are highly ranked doubles players at numbers 18 and 16 respectively.  The pair gives the Israeli Davis Cup fans reasons to hope for continued international success and remain proof that there is strength in teamwork.

Against Clement and Llorda, the Israelis had impressive statistics, double faulting only once and recording no unforced errors.  They also won a dominating 86% of their first serves, while winning 37% of their receiving points.  To back up their impressive first service stats, the champions won 55% of their second serves.

In the finals, when play was resumed following the rain delay, Ram and Erlich never gave up their 4-2 lead and won the first set 7-5.  The second set started well but the Frenchmen battled back from 4-3 to take a 6-5 edge, but the Israeli registered a key break on a smashing Ram volley.  Trailing 3-1 in the tiebreaker, the Israeli ran off four straight points on the way to a 7-4 tiebreak win.  The pair seemed perfectly positioned on all occasions and pressured the French in almost every game.

Erlich credited Ram’s serving as the key to the match.  While many of Erlich’s service games seemed suspenseful, Ram served dominant and never faced a break point.

With the Australian open Men’s Doubles Championship and the Women’s Doubles runner-up trophy in hand, Israeli tennis looks to be competing strongly in all Grand Slam events in the future.  While it will be difficult to repeat in Australian open 2009, the 2008 champions, Ram and Erlich, will not go down easily.