Novak Djokovic called it “Yoni Ehrlich’s last dance” and it really should have been, but luck was not with the veteran Israeli tennis player. At the age of 45, he was supposed to play with the Serbian phenom in doubles at the Watergen tournament, maybe even win it and then retire in front of the warm crowd in Tel Aviv, but a back injury changed the plans and now he has finally said goodbye to his playing career.
In the middle of the week, Ehrlich tried to train for the match with Djokovic, but had to give up. Instead of playing with the Serbian in doubles, he went on the court next to him and just said goodbye to the crowd, more excited than ever. Now he truly said goodbye for the last time in an emotional ceremony held in Tel Aviv.
As we know, Ehrlich won with Djokovic at the Queen’s tournament in 2010, but of course this was not the only achievement of the veteran Israeli in his illustrious career. Most of it was spent by Ehrlich with Andy Ram and the duo called ‘Andioni’ reached its peak with a doubles win at the Australian Open in 2008.
After Djokovic’s 0:2 victory over Spiolin in the semi-finals, the ceremony was held in which he spoke Yoni Ehrlich: “I came to say that I am coming back and not retiring (laughs). Thanks to Michael who organized the event, you made an amazing event, it’s an unusual experience. Novak if you go single it’s not such a problem. Last week I didn’t sleep too much, you have to sum up 27 years of career, 45 years old playing with 22 year olds is not easy, this whole week I have played games in the past. I want to thank Morley, the coach I met at the age of 15 and went with me for years when they didn’t believe in me and he fought for me, thank you Ronan.”
“Noam Bar, a coach who went with Andy and me, when Andy told me we would take him as a coach, I thought he was crazy, because he is not an easy guy, and Andy convinced and we made an amazing journey with him. The only Israeli coach who has a Grand Slam. Susan the psychologist without you my career would not have been, you are the main factor in my success”.
“Thanks to my dear wife, thanks to her and the children, I extended my career, this is the end for all of us. The last few days have been very difficult for us, thank you for all these years. Without you I would have retired a long time ago. Looking forward to the next years with you, you have raised two children who are everything to me in life, we have a lot to look forward to in life.”
“The end of the journey is an end for many people, and especially for two who started with me from the age of 5 and traveled with me everywhere in the country, even when there was a difficult economic situation, they did not give up on me and accompanied me quietly and taught me what it means to fight and be humble. It’s probably my parents, I love you, you deserve it, the greatest achievement is not the degrees, but seeing my parents happy, thank you I love you because of you I am who I am. I will pass these values on.”
“Thank you Andy. I thought a lot about what to say about him, I’m not religious but in the days of soul-searching today, I know that God sent you to me. In the most barren moments of my life when I thought my coolness was over, he called me to Wimbledon in London and convinced me to come even though I only had 20 pounds in my pocket, and in the end we made it to the semi-finals then.”
“Thank you to the audience, I am playing for you, proud to be Israeli, I gave a lot of my pride to represent you, thank you from the bottom of my heart, I love you very much.”