HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF YSHAI OLIEL?

IF NOT, YOU WILL

Yshai Oliel

 Thirteen years ago, in the city of Ramle in central Israel, an Israeli child was born and his parents named him Yshai. Little did anyone at the time realize this ‘babe’ would grow up and win the Orange Bowl Junior Tennis Tournament for 12 year-olds in December 2012. Each year in the week before Christmas, 128 of the cream of 12 year-old tennis players from around the world come to South Florida to compete for this prestigious 

   Just to show what a big deal Yshai’s victory means in Israel, shortly after the conclusion of the finals Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called to congratulate him. “You are a true champion,” the prime minister told him. “You brought honor to the State of Israel and pride to your 

   And it’s a big deal in the tennis community, as witnessed by the number of players and guests who wanted to have their picture taken with the winner after the finals.

Yshia Oliel defeated Nicolas Mejia of Columbia
in the finals 6-3, 6-1

On the way to the championship Yshai handed out plenty of “bagels” (an expression which signifies the winner won the set 6-0). He dropped just one set in the entire competition, losing only 3 games in his first three rounds.

This was the fourth international he has won this year and the southpaw has been a finalist in three other tournaments and a semi-finalist four times

I met Yshai in Decemer (2011) when he came to train with Aaron Krickstein (formerly ranked # 6 in the world) in Boca Raton for a few days prior to playing in his first Orange Bowl competition (he lost in the third round). Since he was 9 years old Yshai has been a member of the David Squad Elite Academy in Ra’anana, Israel. The DS team is spearheaded by head coaches Andy Zingman and Tzipi Obziler.

   David Coffer sponsors “The David Squad” an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to developing Israeli tennis players of the highest international standards. As a non-denominational, apolitical organization, the David Squad embraces all sectors of the Israeli people. 

David Coffer and Yshai

London-based David Coffer has a home in Boca Raton and brings several Israeli youngsters with their coaches to work with Aaron Krickstein each year.

After watching Yshai working out with Aaron a few weeks ago I decided to drive to Coral Gables to watch his opening match. I became “hooked” as a “fan” by his tennis skills and demeanor and drove each of the next six days the 50 or so miles down past Miami to watch him play. Judy joined me for the last matches. I took my camera, which has been sitting idle in the drawer for the past ten years or so and enjoyed taking photos, some of which you’ll find in this posting.

  I also drove over to Key Biscayne to catch two of May Kimhi’s matches. This 14 year-old Israeli girl won four matches in the Consolation Round and is also someone to watch for the future.

I “interviewed” Yshai this morning, just before he left for the airport for the long trip back to Israel. Yshai studied English at school and with an interpreter chiming in I learned the following:

He was born in Ramle. His parents were not athletic, but one sister (out of 4 siblings) played tennis at a tennis center. Yshai was five years old and went along because his parents worked. He picked up a racket and started hitting a few balls. He took to the sport like the proverbial duck takes to water. Jon Pochter was teaching his sister and noticed Yshai’s form and took him under his wing and as they say, “The rest is history.”

Yshai attends school in Ramle and when he is on the road  class assignments are emailed to him by his teacher. He trains six days a week and travels worldwide to play in tournaments. This year he will enter between 12-14 tournaments in Israel, England, France, Spain, Germany, Italy and the US. 

I have no idea what sort of pressure there is on these youngsters (and their parents and coaches) who have chosen this career path. A very few will make it to the “big time” and reap the rewards of fame and fortune that accrue to a top tennis player. I do know that as I entered the tennis center in Coral Gables to watch Yshai’s first match I passed a youngster walking out who was crying as he lugged his heavy tennis bag on his small, sagging shoulders. His parents’ eyes were moist as well.

I noted that his on the court behavior is much different from some of his peers. Yshai rarely shows any emotion, even when a questionable or errant line call is made, (somewhat like Federer’s deportment) while others are more of the John McEnroe School of Ill Behavior.

Jan Pochter and Yshai

His parents do not travel with him and Jan Pochter, his coach,  serves as a Big Brother/teacher on his trips.

I asked how he handled the nerves of playing in such high-stakes tournaments and he said he always felt nervous at the beginning, but tried not to think of it as the match wore on. I think I was more nervous than he was.

Some of his opponents hit their forehand and serve much harder than Yshai does and in these matches he played a defensive game waiting for his opponent to over hit. As these power hitters get older some will learn to control their power and become even more formidable opponents. Yshai’s game will improve as his serve and drive volley become weapons.

An interesting sidelight (at least to me) of my Orange Bowl experience occurred when I met a woman who was interviewing David Coffer as a free-lance reporter. I took her picture with Yshai  and she gave me a brochure, which had her email address on it, so I could send her a copy of my photo. Does the name Angela Buxton mean anything to you? Well, it didn’t to me and I’m sure not to any of 128 twelve year-old players assembled for the tournament.  Angela was the Wimbledon Doubles Champion in 1956 and a Wimbledon Singles Finalist in the same year. She was ranked Number 5 in the world in 1956.  There must be a moral to this tale  but I’ll leave that to my readers to figure out.
    I took a short video of Yshai playing at the tournament just to give you the flavor of his form. Just click on this link  http://youtu.be/I_4QP426BrY

After viewing the video click the left arrow on the top left of this page to go back to the Blog. 
In January 2013, shortly after his bar mitzvah, Yshai will be competing in ‘14 and under tournaments’ playing against some older and stronger players. I believe he has the inner strength to help mitigate the age and experience differential. He has two tourneys in January and Judy and I’ll be following his matches with keen interest. 

Mazel tov Yshai!!!

Guess who?