Harel Levy

Harel Levy is an Israeli professional tennis player born on August 5, 1978 in Kibbutz Nahshonim, Israel. The highest ranking he attained in the singles division is in No. 30 in June 2001, and in the doubles division at No. 76 in 2007.

He got interested in playing tennis when he accompanied his father to a local club. His father Yoel sells jewelry in Israel from Indonesia, and his mother Nitza is a nurse. He started playing tennis at the age of 7 years old. He was coached by Oded Jacob between the age 12-16, and from 18 until present.

In 1992, he became Israel’s No. 1 tennis player under the age 14 category. Then he started playing professional tennis at the age of 17 in 1995.

By 2000, he competed in the ATP Masters Series Canada held in Toronto. He won the semifinals against Jiri Novak from Czechoslovakia. However, he was defeated by Marat Safin from Russia in the finals. His most impressive victory was when he defeated the World’s No. 1 Pete Sampras in the Italian Open in May 2001. By June, he defeated then ranked No. 40 Andy Roddick in the Nottingham Tournament in England.

From 2000 to 2003, he competed in the Wimbledon, Australian Open and U.S. Open but only made it in the qualifying rounds.

At the height of his career, Levy suffered from shoulder and hip injury which caused him to have a break. Since then, he hasn’t played his best due to a partial recovery period.

Levy has been a member of the Israel Davis Cup team since 1998. In this year’s Davis Cup tournament, Israel will be represented by Levy, Dudi Sela, Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram.