Israeli Sela Wins in Queens (With Jewish Help)
And Shahar Peer prepares for her match later today
August 30, 2011
Dudi Sela playing yesterday.(Julian Finney/Getty Images)
So erstwhile Scroll hero Mardy Fish, America’s top-ranked men’s tennis player, isn’t Jewish. Sad-face. But you know who is? Israeli Dudi Sela, the 93rd-ranked player who yesterday won his first match at the U.S. Open, defeating Brazilian Thomaz Belluci in a dramatic comeback (he lost the first two sets, won the final three). He was enthusiastically cheered on by plenty of yarmulke-clad fans on one of the courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, Queens. “There’s a lot of Jewish people in New York,” he told The New Yorker. “One of the main reasons I won the match was because of them.”
Meanwhile, on the women’s side, 23rd-ranked Israeli Shahar Peer is favored over Sania Miraza, whom she plays later today today. Am Yisrael Chai!
U.S. Open: A Day of Conflict [New Yorker Sporting Scene]
Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.
