History

It began with six men and a vision in 1974. That vision? Use tennis as a vehicle to reach out to underserved Israeli children, regardless of background, religion or ability to pay. Two years later, the first of 14 Centers opened in Ramat Hasharon. Today, the Israel Tennis Center is the largest tennis school in the world and one of the largest social service organizations for children in all of Israel.

• 1974Six founders begin work to build the first center. Left to right: Rubin Josephs*, USA; Dr. Ian Froman, Israel, Freddie Krivine*, England; Joseph D. Shane*, USA; Dr. William H. Lippy, USA; and Harold Landesberg*, USA.
• 1976 The Israel Tennis Center, Ramat Hasharon opened on April 25, 1976, with 14 tennis courts. Leah Rabin cut the ribbon to the Center, and 250 children signed up to participate.
• 1977 Canadians Joe Frieberg, Ralph Halbert, Harold Green and more, raise money to build Canada Stadium at Ramat Hasharon, Israel’s first stadium.
• 1979 The Kiryat Shmona, Jaffa, and Arad Centers all open.
• 1981 The Israel Tennis Centers in Jerusalem and Ashkelon open.
• 1982 The Israel Tennis Center in Haifa opens.
• 1985 Ethiopian children come to the Ashkelon and Arad Centers.
• 1986 Israeli Davis Cup team qualifies for the 1st time to the world group.
• 1987 Amos Mansdorf wins the Riklis Tournament, the first Israeli to win the title. He achieves career high ranking of 18 with 6 ATP singles titles.
• 1989 The Israel Tennis Center in Tiberias opens.
• 1990 The Israel Tennis Center in Ofakim opens.
• 1991 The Israel Tennis Centers in Tel Aviv and Beer Sheva open.
• 1995 Indoor facility of three courts is built at the Kiryat Shmona Center.
• 1997 Coexistence Program expanded to Jewish, Arab, Bedouin and Druze children.
• 2001 The Israel Tennis Center in Yokneam opens. Residence Academy for talented players opens at Ramat Hasharon.
• 2003 Anna Smashnova reaches career high singles ranking of 15 in the world.
• 2004 Shahar Pe’er wins the Australian Open Girls’ Singles.
• 2006 Andy Ram wins Wimbledon Mixed Doubles Championship with Vera Zvonareva
• 2006 Tamir Segal from Kiryat Shmona and Rachel Elmoualem from Ashkelon are awarded first Gold Medals at “Special Olympics” Berlin Tournament.
• 2006 Israeli Fed Cup team qualifies for the 1st time to world group 2.
• 2007 Israeli Fed Cup team qualifies for the 1st time to world group 1, the best 8 teams in the world
• 2007 Israeli Davis Cup team beat Chile 3:2 in Ramat-Hasharon center and qualifies back to the world group after 13 years.
• 2008 Israel Tennis Center receives award from the Prime Minister for its contribution to Israel’s children.
• 2009 The Israel Tennis Center in Galilee-Sajur opens.
• 2009 Israeli Davis Cup team reaches the semi final of the world group, its best achievement ever in Davis Cup.
• 2010 The Israel Tennis Center in Akko opens.
• 2010 Shahar Pe’er reaches career high singles ranking of 14 in the world.
• 2010 Elad Gevandschnaider from Beer-Sheva center won the Silver Medal in the “Special Olympics” European championship held in Poland.
• 2011 Muhammad Kunbar and Jafar Tawil from the ITC – Jerusalem, are the first Arabs to represent Israel at an international tennis tournament (Special Olympics in Athens, Greece).
• 2011 The Embrace Program is recognized by six government offices and is included in the book of national programs for children at risk.