{"id":848835,"date":"2026-09-15T17:38:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T17:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/848835\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T17:38:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T17:38:20","slug":"israels-us-open-rep-guy-sasson-comes-close-to-historic-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/848835\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel’s US open rep. Guy Sasson comes close to historic title"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israel<\/a>\u2019s representatives at the US Open<\/a> came away without a championship<\/a> trophy, but each made his mark at the final Grand Slam tournament of the year, with Guy Sasson coming closest to achieving a historic title.<\/p>\n

When Alexander Zverev defeated Ben Shelton in Sunday\u2019s men\u2019s singles final, ending the American\u2019s bid to become the first US man to win a Grand Slam singles title since 2003, the two-week tournament in New York officially came to a close.<\/p>\n

Three Israelis \u2013 wheelchair players Guy Sasson and Sergei Lysov and junior Dan Brand \u2013 proudly represented Israel at the US Open. While none returned home with a championship, all three gained valuable experience on one of tennis\u2019 biggest stages.<\/p>\n

Sasson, ranked third and the third seed in the quad singles tournament, advanced to the semifinals Friday, where he faced his doubles partner, top seed Niels Vink of the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

Sasson battled back from 5-2 down in the opening set to level the score at 5-5, but Vink managed to close it out 7-5 before winning the second set 6-3. Vink went on to capture the singles championship.<\/p>\n

After a brief rest, Sasson and Vink reunited on court as the top-seeded doubles team with a chance to complete a rare calendar-year Grand Slam. The pair had already won the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon titles this year.<\/p>\n

Standing between them and a fourth consecutive Grand Slam title were second seeds Sam Schr\u00f6der of the Netherlands<\/a> and Jin Woodman of Australia. Sasson and Vink dropped the opening set 6-2, responded by taking the second 6-3, but ultimately fell 10-7 in a heartbreaking super tiebreak, ending their bid for the calendar-year Grand Slam.<\/p>\n

Despite the disappointment, Boaz Kramer, CEO of the Israel ParaSport Center, praised Sasson and Lysov for their performances and their continued commitment to reaching the highest levels of the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Israel ParaSport Center is proud of our two athletes in the Open,\u201d Kramer said. \u201cA Grand Slam is the end of a very long and demanding road, and taking it takes dedication and commitment from both the athletes and their supporting teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSergei and Guy are the elite of our Paralympians, and we will continue to support them and their head coaches, Ofri Lankri and Damien Martinique, in their journey to LA28,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Lysov, competing in his second US Open in the men\u2019s wheelchair division, lost his opening-round singles match in three sets before falling in his first-round doubles match in a super tiebreaker. Brand, 17, made his US Open debut and enjoyed a strong showing in both singles and doubles. <\/p>\n

The Israeli won his opening-round singles match in three sets before falling in the second round, also in three sets,
after suffering severe cramps midway through the deciding set. In doubles, Brand and Austrian partner Thilo Behrmann, the No. 5 seeds, advanced to the second round before losing to Yannik Alvarez of Puerto Rico and American Ryan Cozad.
Brand\u2019s father, Shai, said he was extremely proud of his son\u2019s performance and the way he represented Israel on the Grand Slam stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so incredibly proud of my son for reaching the US Open and representing Israel across the Grand Slam stage,\u201d Shai Brand said. \u201cStanding on the world\u2019s biggest courts with the Israeli flag on his chest is a true testament to his resilience, strength and unwavering spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the challenges of competing with limited resources, Brand continues to pursue his development at the highest level, his father said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite the ongoing war, the aftermath of the pandemic, a lack of elite coaching support and minimal financial resources, he continues to fight against the very best in the world \u2013 competitors backed by massive budgets,\u201d Brand said. \u201cDan proves that heart, determination, and passion can overcome any obstacle, and he makes an entire nation
proud every time he steps onto the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brand\u2019s father also expressed his appreciation to the International Tennis Federation for selecting his son for its Grand Slam Player Development Program, which he participated in leading up to the US Open.<\/p>\n

After a brief visit with his family in Israel, Brand will return to international competition in Japan, where he is scheduled to compete in the J500 Osaka tournament, also known as the Osaka Mayor\u2019s Cup World Super Junior Tennis Championships. The tournament will take place September 21-27 at the Utsubo Tennis Center in Osaka.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s senior tennis players will also be in action this week, with the national team set to face Slovenia in the Davis Cup World Group II tie on Sept. 18-19. The tie will be played on outdoor clay courts at the Tennis Academy Breskvar in Ljubljana.<\/p>\n

While the US Open marked the end of the Grand Slam season, for Israel\u2019s tennis players the international campaign continues, with Sasson and Lysov looking ahead to the next stage of their Paralympic journey and Brand continuing his development on the junior circuit.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s representatives at the US Open came away without a championship trophy, but each made his mark at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[2234,95063,358935,99,428,11883],"class_list":["post-848835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-championship","tag-israel-sports","tag-israeli-athletes","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-us-open"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}