• A onetime Jewish Obama donor who refuses to allow his name to be used “(let’s call him John)” tells a conservative blogger that he is abandoning the president and it’s not because of Israel. Clearly Obama needs to improve his standing with the Jewish community. [Right Turn]

• Kinky Friedman backs Gov. Rick Perry. Clearly Obama needs to improve his standing with the Jewish community. [Ben Smith]

• Joe Klein questions Glenn Beck’s recent comments about the Jews. [Time Swampland]

• A Mexican-Jewish cookbook? Sign me up! [Book Bench]

• Mardy Fish isn’t Jewish. I weep. [Kaplan’s Korner]

Stay safe, everybody.

Fish’s newfound fame occasioned a mini-profile over the weekend in the Times. Fish, who before this year had never made it beyond a Grand Slam quarterfinals and never been esteemed the best U.S. playern (an honor that has usually gone to his longtime friend Andy Roddick), used to be quite overweight by tennis standards—blame pizza, apparently—but grew a hardier work ethic, lost the pounds, and later this month will be in the spotlight as never before when he arrives in Queens for his country’s Open. We’ll be tuned in.

Novak Djokovic Wins Rogers Cup [AP/Google]
Fish Carries Flag for U.S. and Faces Djokovic [NYT]
Earlier: Mardy Fish Goes Down at Wimbledon

Last year in Dubai, Pe’er defeated Danish superstar Caroline Wozniacki—then the world’s top-ranked player, currently the world’s second-ranked, and once again competing in Dubai—prompting a, er, cheeky tweet (later deleted) from Israel’s British Embassy: “You heard it here first: Israeli tennis player carries out hit on #Dubai target.” Here’s hoping for similar success—on the court—this year.

Israeli Tennis Star Back in Dubai [Kaplan’s Korner]
Related: Israeli Embassy Deletes Joke About Dubai ‘Hit’ From Twitter [The Lede]
Earlier: Israeli Tennis Star Ready for Flushing Meadows

The American tennis player’s first-round match against Frenchman Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon, the London tournament which is tennis’s most prestigious, just ended. It had reached the 11-hour mark and is, by leaps and bounds, the longest recorded professional tennis match in history. Final score: 3-2, Isner. Final score in the final set? 70-68.

And for a real, real treat, check out the Guardian‘s liveblog from yesterday.

Let it end, let it end, it’s 46-all. It was funny when it was 16-all and it was creepy when it was 26-all. But this is pure purgatory and there is still no end in sight. John Isner has just struck his 90th ace. Nicolas Mahut, poor, enfeebled Nicolas Mahut, has only hit 72. Maybe we should just decide it on the number of aces struck? Give the game to Isner and then we can all crawl into our graves

Wimbledon 2010: John Isner and Nicolas Mahut Still Fighting in Epic [Guardian]

• The report also concluded, in stronger language than past agency statements, that the mystery Syrian compound that Israel famously bombed in 2007 was possibly a reactor. [Haaretz]

• Publishing and real-estate tycoon Mort Zuckerman, a very active member of the institutional Jewish-American community, has met with New York Republican Party chair about a Senate run this year. [Ben Smith]

• The “Orthodox Compulsive Disorder” phenomenon, which is just what it sounds like. [New York Jewish Week/Failed Messiah]

• Israel’s United Kingdom embassy has a little fun on Twitter (apropos our previous post). [The Awl]

Kissing Mandit Tells Nadal: I Love You [NYP]

Earlier this year, Pe’er found herself turned into a cause célèbre when she was denied a visa to play at a Barclays-sponsored tournament in Dubai just a couple of weeks after a cease-fire was declared in Gaza, allegedly over concerns for Pe’er’s own security. Venus Williams, who won the women’s side, publicly—though gently—criticized the tournament organizers for allowing Pe’er to be excluded, earning herself plaudits from the Anti-Defamation League, and American star Andy Roddick declined to defend his 2008 men’s title. “The Dubai issue was an important point in my life and career,” wrote Pe’er, who arrived in New York last week after being knocked out of the Rogers Cup in Toronto. “This incident has hurt me both personally and professionally—I was in a good run before Dubai and I was really looking forward to that tournament.” She said she wants to make sure that no other athlete from any other country ever has to face similar exclusion, but her more immediate concern is working her way back up from her current 63rd rank. “In past years—not last year—I did very well here, so good memories are something I love coming back to,” Pe’er said.

Meantime, she’s working overtime, appearing in an American Express-sponsored “rally experience” video game that fans can play on their cellphones. And she’s counting on the New York fans. “I always get a lot of support here from the crowd,” she said, “which I really love.”

Shahar Peer [U.S. Open Official Web Site]

Kournikova: ‘Not Jewish—See My Cross’ [Washington Times]