Amos Mansdorf
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Amos Mansdorf (Hebrew: עמוס מנסדורף; born October 20, 1965, in Tel Aviv, Israel) is a former professional tennis player from Israeli. He reached his career-high ranking of World No. 18 in November 1987.
Mansdorf grew up in Ramat Hasharon. He started playing tennis when he was 10 years old. He trained at at the Israel Tennis Centers. [1]
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[edit] 1980s
In 1983 Mansdorf won the Asian Junior Championshop in Hong Kong. That same year he turned professional and started his mandatory army service. While he could not train as much during his service as he had like to do, he was allowed to continue to play on the ATP tour on a limited basis. During his service, he played at the demonstration event of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and lost in the 1st round.
Immediately after his service, in November 1986 he beat world # 5 Henri Leconte 6–2, 6–7, 6–3, in Wembley, England. He won his first tour singles title later that month at Johannesburg, beating world # 10 Andres Gomez 6–4, 6–4 in the quarterfinals, and defeating the American Matt Anger in the final.
His second singles title came the following year in his hometown of Ramat Hasharon, north of Tel Aviv. In the semifinals he beat world # 6 Jimmy Connors, 7–6, 6–3, and in the finals he beat # 12 Brad Gilbert, 3–6, 6–3, 6–4.
The third title was in January 1988 at Auckland. In March he beat world # 4 Boris Becker, 6–4, 6–4, in Orlando. In October that year he won the biggest title of his career at the Paris Open (now part of the Tennis Masters Series). He faced the world no.1 seed Mats Vilander, but the Swede retired before the tournament began. Mansdorf beat Krickstein and Hlasek, two top ten players on his way to the final. He beat Gilbert in the final in straight sets, 6–3, 6–2, 6–3.
He also played at 1988 Olympics in Seoul, where tennis was an official sport, and this time reached the 3rd round (last-16). In March 1989 in Scottsdale he upset world # 13 Thomas Muster, 7–5, 6–2, and # 15 Gilbert 5–7, 6–3, 6–0.
[edit] 1990s
Mansdorf won another title at Rosmalen in the Netherlands in 1990. In the third round of the US Open in 1990 he beat world # 8 Gilbert 5–7, 5–7, 6–3, 7–6, 6–1. In September 1991 in Toulouse he beat world # 11 Magnus Gustafsson, 6–4, 6–1.
His best performance at a Grand Slam tournament came at the Australian Open in 1992, where he reached the quarter-finals before being knocked out by the eventual champion Jim Courier. In February 1992 in Philadelphia he upset world # 3 Michael Stich 7–6(5), 7–5. In January 1993 in Syndney he beat world # 13 Carlos Costa, 6–1 5–7 6–4. He qualified for 1992 Olympics, but had to withdraw due to injury.
Mansdorf's 6th and final career title came in 1993 at Washington DC, during which he beat world # 11 Petr Korda 6–3 ,6–3. In July 1994 in Toronto he beat world # 8 Todd Martin 6–7(4), 6–3, ret, and in August at Cincinnati he upset Korda (world # 14) 6–3, 6–3, and Boris Becker (# 8), 7–6(1), 6–4.
He reached the round of 16 at the U.S. Open and Wimbledon. Mansdorf reached the finals of the U.S. Pro Indoor Championships, but lost to Pete Sampras in the final.
Mansdorf at times displayed a temper. One time, after jumping over the net and pushing an opponent who he thought was cheating, he was suspended for a month.
In addition to his 6 titles, he reached 10 other finals but lost, 4 of them in Ramat Hasharon. During his career he won 304 matches and lost 231, and earned prize money of 2,412,691 US$. In Davis Cup, Mansdorf played 10 years and won 22 matches against 25 losses, including a 15-4 record in singles matches on hard courts or carpet.[2] He played a major role in Israel's success in this competition, when Israel played 6 years in the world group between 1987 and 1994.
Mansdorf retired in 1994. He suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome, which wouldn't allow him to practice or play with maximum effort all the time.
[edit] 2000s
Following his retirement, Mansdorf continued to remain active in Israeli tennis, and is currently the Chairman of the Israel Tennis Center and Israel Tennis Association's program for promising young tennis players.
Between 2000 and 2004 he served as Davis Cup captain. His prime employment is as a diamond seller in Tel Aviv.
