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CALLING SIGNALS |
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 ERLICH AND RAM |
Together night and day,
they're starting to boom
By BUCKY FOX
of TheColumnists.com
The U.S. Open starts today (Aug. 29, 2005), and Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram think they can win it.
Come again? The Grand Slam tennis tournament that no Israeli has come close to winning?
“The U.S. Open is way ahead,” said Erlich, “but if we keep working hard we think we can do well.”
Added Ram, “Every tournament we enter we think we can win."
Erlich and Ram are Israel’s top doubles team. They’re ranked No. 10 in the Association of Tennis Professionals doubles race.
As they spoke last month, they were in the heat of the Mercedes-Benz Cup on the UCLA courts, where they would reach the final. And soon they would swing into New York for the U.S. Open Aug. 29 to Sept. 11.
“We’re playing at a really high level,” said Ram, “and we’re communicating well.”
How high? Ram and Erlich have won two tournaments this year partly because of that communication.
“We give each other finger signs to show each other where the serve is going in and where the volleyer is going,” said Erlich.
Otherwise, they yak in Hebrew. They could banter in English and Spanish, thanks to their South American heritage, but these are Israelis when it counts.
“I feel 100 percent Israeli,” said Erlich.
Ram admitted: “I have a little bit of Uruguayan in me. I call there often because I have family there. I’m Israeli for everything, but a small part of me is South American.”
Both moved to Israel as tots. Erlich was one when his grandfather felt a Jewish tug, packed up the family in Argentina and landed in Haifa. Ram was five when his parents said it was time to make Jerusalem home and left Uruguay.
By the time Yoni and Andy were teens, they were playing tennis in Tel Aviv. Now Erlich, 28, and Ram, 25, are tough to beat--they’ve combined for $1 million in career prize money--and tough to keep apart.
When reminded that a British newspaper quoted him as saying they spend 80 percent of their time together, Ram cracked, “90 percent. This year it went up a little. I see Jonathan 350 days a year.”
Erlich continued the standup routine: “We’re always traveling together. We do make sure we’re in separate rooms. At least when I’m sleeping I dream about something other than Andy.”
So, they have plenty in common, such as no coach. Just like the world’s No. 1 player, Roger Federer.
“It didn’t work before,” said Ram, “so now we’re trying Federer’s way.”
It sure worked the next night in the L.A. quarterfinals. Erlich and Ram gutted out a 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 7-5 triumph over the French team of Sebastien Grosjean and Cyril Saulnier.
A sparse crowd stayed until the midnight finish. One of the loyal ones was Avi Suriel, who led his wife and two sons in cheers for the Israelis. No wonder. He served four years in the Israeli military before coming to Los Angeles at age 25. “I can’t believe more from our Jewish community aren’t here,” he said.
Think how Suriel will feel if Erlich and Ram butt far into the U.S. Open. They do know how to make Grand marks on Slams. Their ride to the 2003 Wimbledon semifinals is the best all-Israeli Grand Slam doubles performance in history.
The top individual Israeli Grand Slam moment? That belongs to Ram. He teamed with Russia’s Anastassia Rodionova to reach the 2003 Wimbledon mixed doubles final.
If Team Erlich/Ram does hold up the U.S. Open trophy in two weeks, thousands will cheer in New York.
On this night in L.A., the two Israelis walked off winners amid the few fans.
Erlich looked at them and the upside: “Thanks
for waiting.”
©2005 by Bucky Fox. This column first posted Aug. 29, 2005.
You can visit Bucky Fox's
website at www.BuckyFox.com
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