Israel's tennis victory in Malmo evokes memories of 1987 upset

When Israel played Czechoslovakia in the quarter-final of the Davis Cup in 1987, someone in the crowd at the arena in Hradec Kralove displayed a small sign calling for Israel to "get out of Palestine." It was a minor, well-behaved protest, which was quickly and quietly brought to an end by the stewards in the arena. Two decades ago, tennis was played in an atmosphere of respectful silence.

Haaretz's report of that famous tie described the moment when Israel beat Czechoslovakia thus: "When Karel Novacek failed to return the serve, Amos Mansdorf punched the air twice, approached the net and shook his Czech opponent's hand - before falling into the outstretched arms of team coach Shlomo Tzoref."

Within a few hours, President Chaim Herzog sent a telegram of congratulations to the nation's new sporting heroes: "The entire State of Israel is proud of your victory. You have given us great pleasure as we celebrate the Purim holiday."

Israel has never been a tennis superpower, although every generation has provided us with one or two players who are head-and-shoulders above the rest and climbed up the world rankings. Occasionally, they have even won a tournament or two. On Sunday, however, Israel's Davis Cup team booked its place among the top eight tennis nations in the world - an achievement that has only happened once before: in Czechoslovakia, 1987.

"The Davis Cup team of 1987 was very talented, but we weren't a cohesive unit like today's team," explains former team captain Dedi Ya'akov. "One of the most significant elements in the current team's success is the connection between the players. Apart from Dudi Sela, these guys have been playing together since they were 12, and they know each other very well. In 1987 we were up against one player who was ranked sixth in the world and several who were in the top 30 - as opposed to the Swedish team we played now - but the bottom line is that a quarter-final is a quarter-final, and it doesn't matter how you get there."

According to Tzoref, "We were playing a much stronger team than us in 1987. It was a highly skilled encounter, and our boys played above their usual level. The day before the big match, Miloslav Mecir, one of the Czech players, pushed Mansdorf off the court before he had finished training - right in the middle of a point. Amos was furious with him and, during the match itself, took out all his frustrations."

Mansdorf himself does not remember that particular incident, but says it sounds highly possible. "In those days, I had a hot temper and it didn't take a lot for me to blow my fuse," he recalls. "Looking back, I remember the match against Mecir as one of the best in my career. The Czechoslovakians were completely stunned by our victory; they simply couldn't believe it. They assumed that they were going to win easily, and even moved the event to the suburbs, two and a half hours' drive from Prague. I knew all along that the score would be 2-2 when I played the final rubber, so I prepared myself mentally for two whole days. We knew we had an unprecedented opportunity and we grabbed it with both hands. That win was a key factor in the increased exposure that Israeli tennis enjoyed."

According to Ya'akov, the victory over Czechoslovakia "paved the way for the victory over Sweden. The members of the current Davis Cup team - apart from Dudi Sela - were 10 years old at the time and they saw how we made history in the Davis Cup. They started to play tennis when Amos and Shlomo were their role models, and that gave them extra motivation and the desire to emulate their achievements."