Amir Hadad

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Amir Hadad (born February 17, 1978, in Ramle, Israel) is a professional tennis player.

His highest singles ATP ranking was # 180, in 2003. His highest doubles ranking was # 87, also in 2003.

1 Tennis career
- 1.1 Davis Cup
2 Miscellaneous
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Tennis career

He turned pro in 1995.

Most of his success has been on the challenger and future circuit.

In mid-July 2002, Amir and his partner Martin Vassallo Arguello won the Seascape Challenger Tournament doubles final.

His best result was reaching the 3rd round doubles at the 2002 Wimbledon Open, with partner Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan. The Israeli and Pakistani team, with its bravely enlightened but controversial pairing of an Israeli and a Muslim, received major criticism because of political tensions, but Hadad and Aisam dedicated their run to peace. This extraordinary doubles team attained an upset victory in the 2nd round over the No. 11 seeded team of Ellis Ferreira and Rick Leach.

The teaming made international news when the Pakistani Sports Board threatened to ban Qureshi for teaming with a Jew (the threat was later rescinded, and he was invited to join Pakistan's Davis Cup team). Hadad, on the other hand, received support from Israel. The president of Israel's tennis federation, David Harnik, said, "We like the idea. We think there's nothing like sports to bridge the gap between nations and to be the start of solving problems."

When asked about the controversy surrounding their partnership, Hadad told reporters: "we came to play tennis. There are some people who maybe want to make headlines, say bad things about this. But I see it as only a positive that two guys from different nationalities can play together. We are good friends and I think we're going to keep playing together in the future. We're here to improve our ranking, to make some money."

Hadad won the Ho Chi Minh tournament in Vietnam in early 2003. He also won doubles titles in Gronigen, Rome, San Remo, and Kyoto during the year.

On February 6, 2003, Hadad and Qureshi were chosen as the winners of the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award. ATP Chief Executive Officer Mark Miles said: "During a summer when fear and hatred garnered much of the headlines, Amir and Aisam-ul-Haq provided much needed relief with their simple message about tolerance through tennis... It's fitting that we present the Arthur Ashe Award to these two players on the anniversary of Arthur's death, as Arthur remains the model for all of us on how athletes and sport can make a big difference in the lives of others."

In April 2005 Hadad and partner Harel Levy won a F1 doubles title in Hungary.

Hadad enjoyed his best singles performance in years at the Hungary F3 tournament held in Hodmezovasarhely during May 2005. He lost to the eventual champion Boris Pashanski in the finals, 7-6, 6-1.

The doubles performances of Hadad and Levy in the months of April and May, 2005, were quite impressive. In April the Israelis captured the Hungary F1 tournament in Budapest. A few days later they won the F2 title in Miskolc as well. They then won in the German town of Furth as well.

Hadad captured the Turkey F2 tournament held in Istanbul during June 2005.