Gilad Bloom
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gilad Bloom (Hebrew: גלעד בלום, born March 1, 1967 in Tel Aviv) is a former professional tennis player from Israel. His career-high rankings were World No. 61 in singles (in 1990) and World No. 62 in doubles (in 1992).
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[edit] Tennis career
A left-handed player, Bloom was Israel's junior champion, 3-time men's singles champion, and 2-time men's doubles champion.
Bloom came in second in the boy's under-12 final at the annual Ericsson Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships in 1979.[1]
Bloom turned professional in 1986, and played on the ATP tour for 13 years.
During his career he won four tour doubles titles (at Tel Aviv and São Paulo in 1987, and at Seoul and Umag in 1991).
He also finished runner-up in three top-level singles events (Tel Aviv in 1989, Manchester in 1990, and Singapore in 1991).
His best singles performance at a Grand Slam event was at the 1990 US Open, where he reached the 4th round before being knocked out by Ivan Lendl.
At Wimbledon in June 1991 he lost to world # 8 Guy Forget in 5 sets, 6–2, 6–7(2), 5–7, 7–6,(4), 4–6, despite winning 171 points to Forget's 168.
Among his upsets were in May 1988 world # 14 Martin Jaite, 6–4, 2–6, 6–2, at Forest Hills; in June 1990 # 25 Petr Korda, 6–0, 6–4, 4–6, 6–2, in Wimbledon, in June 1991 # 16 Brad Gilbert, 6–2, 6–0, in Manchester, England; and in June 1994 # 16 Carlos Costa in Austria, 6–3, 3–6, 7–5.
He retired from the professional tour in 1995.
[edit] Olympics
Bloom represented Israel at the 1988 and 1992 Olympic tennis tournaments.
[edit] Davis Cup
Bloom played Davis Cup for Israel from 1986-95.[2]. He helped Israel qualify to the 1994 Davis Cup world group, winning the qualification playoff's 5th and deciding rubber against Switzerland's Jakob Hlasek in one of the most memorable matches in Israeli tennis history.
[edit] Coaching career
Since retiring from the tour, Bloom has played in seniors events and worked as a tennis coach.
In 1995 he was senior coach with the Israel Tennis Centers, coaching the country's top juniors.[3]
He currently coaches at his own Gilad Bloom Tennis Academy, located at Columbia University and the New York Tennis Club in New York City.
[edit] Miscellaneous
- Bloom trained at the Israel Tennis Centers.[1]
- He is married and has a son.
