Out of one, many

The 1961 Maccabiah Games were a turning point for Ian Froman, a dentist from South Africa who arrived as an amateur tennis player and ended up falling in love with Israel. "This event introduced me to the country and I decided to make aliyah," he said.

Froman's move eventually changed the face of Israeli tennis - Tel Aviv had just a few courts, some of them not fit for use. The Israeli Davis Cup team kept losing and Froman, who played in five doubles matches for the team from 1968 to 1971, felt a change was long overdue.

It happened mainly because of the matches against Romania in 1971 at Ramat Gan. Ilie Nastase and Ion Tiriac, two top-flight professionals, destroyed the Israelis, particularly Josef Stabholz. "They wagered among themselves on who would lose a game. Tiriac won 6-0, 6-0, 6-0, Nastase lost one game and was annoyed that he lost the wager," Froman said. "This was embarrassing, and I thought we had to do something."

Froman consulted friends and decided to establish an Israeli tennis center. "I approached people I knew in South Africa and told them I had a dream that children would have a place to play and learn tennis, and they were ready to give me money to start the project," Froman said.

But a number of difficulties stood in the way, including the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Two years later Froman resumed his dreaming. He took a year off from work, met with the mayor of Ramat Gan - who was ready to provide real estate for the project - flew to South Africa and raised money to build the tennis center. But when he returned, he encountered the political side of sports.

Infighting

During that time in Israel, various sports interest groups fought each other. There was the Hapoel center versus the Maccabi center, as well as the Beitar center and the Elitzur center. Ramat Gan's mayor was a Maccabi man. "He told me he only wanted athletes that belonged to Maccabi to play in the tennis center," Froman said. "I said I wasn't going to listen to this. I had no centers, nor did I distinguish between women and men or Jews and Arabs. Then he said he was not ready to allocate the property to me."

So the idea for building a tennis center in Ramat Gan was shelved. But serendipity had its way and Froman's profession ended up paving the way for a new offer.

"Pesach Balkin, who was the head of the Ramat Hasharon local council, was also one of my patients," Froman said. "He came for treatment and asked me what was up, and I told him they were no longer interested in Ramat Gan and that I didn't know how I would build a tennis center. He asked me "Why do you want to build a center in Ramat Gan. Come build it in Ramat Hasharon." He set up a property rather quickly, and in 1977 they started playing in Ramat Hasharon."

A few days after the opening, 3,000 children were playing there.

"Everything in life is a matter of timing and luck. During this period tennis started to blossom globally and people in Israel started to take an interest in the game and raise funds," Froman said.

The tennis center in Ramat Hasharon was just the start. "Somebody told me that if you give someone first-class service he will treat it as such, and if you give him something fourth-class he will give even less," Froman said.

"Then people came and asked why only Ramat Hasharon. They called from Kiryat Shmona and asked us to open a tennis center there and other places, and we continued raising money. At first, we raised funds from South Africa, but then money came from the United States, Britain and Israel. People saw what was going on at the tennis center; that's how we raised $150 million over the years. That helped us build 14 tennis centers throughout Israel."

Revolution

The tennis centers helped increase the sport's popularity in Israel. New immigrants and athletes who played in the Maccabiah Games developed a number of sports in Israel, including athletics, swimming, basketball and wrestling. But the infrastructure provided by the tennis centers helped athletes make the transition into the professional ranks.

Shlomo Glickstein may have already been 15 when Ramat Hasharon's tennis center was built, but he still got a chance to use some of its early facilities. Amos Mansdorf, meanwhile, who grew up in Ramat Hasharon, was a full-fledged product of the center. Andy Ram, Yoni Erlich, Shahar Perkiss and Gilad Bloom also grew up in various tennis centers. Dudi Sela trained in Kiryat Shmona's center. Anna Smashnova, who immigrated to Israel as a young girl from Belarus, also trained there thanks to a financial contribution from Freddie Krivine.

Krivine was one of the six founders of the tennis centers. There was Krivine, Froman (both of whom lived in Israel), Rubin Josephs, William Lippy, Harold Landesberg and Joseph Shane (all of whom came from the United States). Krivine, who was president of the Israel Tennis Association, took Smashnova under his wing in her first years in Israel before she became a professional. He also made it a point to build tennis courts in small Arab towns like Jisr al-Zarqa.

Building tennis courts in Arab towns as well as Jewish ones is critical for Israel, Froman says. "Tennis is a sport for life," he said. A 7-year-old boy and 70-year-old man can play on the same level. It's open to everyone - the religious, secular, Jews, Arabs, healthy people and those with disabilities. People from different cultures and places can play and become friends. One of the most moving moments for me was two years ago during the Israeli championships, which were won by the women's doubles pairing of Julia Glushko, who came to Israel from the former Soviet Union, and Nadine Fahoum, a Muslim girl from Haifa. They would not have been able to meet, play together and become friends if tennis had not developed in Israel.

Ten years ago, Froman quit managing the Israel Tennis Centers, which in recent years have been locked in turf battles with the ITA. The tennis centers claim that 9,800 children play the sport at their facilities across the country, though Froman finds these numbers hard to believe. "Five thousand sounds more logical to me," he said. "Perhaps they include the little children who are just learning the basics."

But this doesn't prevent Froman from declaring Israeli tennis a success. "Tennis is a sport for life, and there is no doubt that it has contributed a lot to children's mental makeup," he said. "When you play tennis, it's you against the opponent - you can't switch in the middle of the match. You have no coach on the court, everything is you against the opponent, so this builds you and makes you stronger. The children mature, they behave well both on and off the court, and they turn into better people. That's what is important."