At home among world’s best
ISRAELI wheelchair tennis star Noam Gershony might not have won the Australian Open, but after less than 18 months in the sport, he proved he can mix it with the very best.
ISRAELI wheelchair tennis star Noam Gershony might not have won the Australian Open, but after less than 18 months in the sport, he proved he can mix it with the very best.
Third seed Gershony, 29, stunned world number one American David Wagner and beat British number four Andrew Lapthorne, coming agonisingly close to a finals berth in the round-robin tournament.
After beating Wagner in the final of lead-up event the Sydney Wheelchair International, Gershony made it two wins over the world’s best player in as many weeks, winning 7-5, 6-3 in the first round of the grand slam event.
But he was no match for second seed Briton Peter Norfolk, losing 6-3, 6-0, before ending the tournament on a high, with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Lapthorne.
“I felt good coming here,” Gershony told The AJN. “In Sydney, I beat the number one [Wagner] and number two [Norfolk], so it gave me a boost of confidence. ”
But Gershony is just appreciative he was able to play at the prestigious grand slam tournament.
“The atmosphere was good here, there was a lot of [people in the] crowd,” Gershony said.
“Everyone in Australia seems to like tennis. It’s fun to play here.”
He never thought that he would be competing for a major tennis title, after receiving severe physical damage while serving as an Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) soldier in a helicopter crash in the 2006 Lebanon War.
But now teaming up with inspirational coach Nimrod Bichler from the Zahal Disabled Veterans Organisation (ZDVO), established to help in the rehabilitation of disabled and injured IDF soldiers, Gershony and Bichler are on a mission to register Israel’s first wheelchair tennis title.
“Before I got injured I used to love sports … and I didn’t want to have to give up sport because of the injuries,” Gershony said.
“It’s [been] a lot of training and hard work, but it’s fun, doing sports is good for the soul.”
Bichler has spent 15 years at ZDVO, where he has worked with injured IDF soldiers on and off the tennis court, and is as passionate an exponent of wheelchair tennis as there is. “I think wheelchair tennis is an incredible sport,” Bichler said.
“There is a lot of technique and movement involved, and imagine doing that from a sitting position.”
But Bichler is the first to admit that Gershony is like no other who has been involved with ZDVO.
“Noam is a completely different story, because he has shown the potential to reach the top,” Bichler said.
“The more Noam is on the tour, the more he himself and the tour can see what I saw, that he is one of the best players.”
Gershony will now head back to Israel, where he will no doubt receive a hero’s welcome, but will take some time off to prepare for what will be the biggest adventure of his career, the 2012 London Paralympic Games later this year.
“The ultimate goal is to represent Israel at the [Paralympics] and bring a medal [home] if I can,” Gershony said.
ASHLEY SHENKER
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