Veteran tennis ace ‘kleibs naches’ at Davis Cup

NICOLA MILTZ

Like a proud dad, Froman, now aged 80 – the South African-born, Israeli former tennis player and founder of the internationally lauded Israel Tennis Centres (ITC) – “kleibed huge nachas” as he watched the blue-and-whites narrowly clinch victory, securing Israel a spot in the Euro/Africa Group 1 event in 2019.

“It was like watching my children,” he told SA Jewish Report. We chatted to Froman at River Meadow Manor in Irene, where he and the team were staying, just a short walk from the Irene Country Club in Centurion where the matches were played.

“These players, my protégés, all came through the ITC. What a joy to see them in action in South Africa, my country of birth. It was an unbelievable treat,” he said, bleary eyed.

Every top Israeli tennis player has come through the ranks of the ITC.

Froman, a former tennis ace himself, played at the Wimbledon Championships in 1955 in the men’s singles and represented Israel in a number of Davis Cups in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

A living tennis legend in Israel, he was once credited by former president Chaim Herzog as having “created a virtual social revolution throughout Israel” for his pioneering work in initiating Israel’s tennis programme countrywide. Herzog said this on presenting Froman with the Israel Prize, the country’s most prestigious civilian award, in 1989.

Today tennis is big in Israel. But when the young Froman made aliya in 1964, fresh out of dentistry school with his wife, Ruth, and their five-month-old baby, tennis in Israel was “a joke”, he said.

Describing it as a “mockery” when he first took part in the Davis Cup in 1968 playing for Israel, Froman knew he had to do something to revolutionise the sport there and turn it into something the country could be proud of.

He recalls with mirth the time Israel hosted Iran. The teams had to share two clay courts with club members, who forced the players to wait for them to finish their weekend club matches before they could start.

“Matches started late, and the players had to sweep, roll and water the courts to prepare them. There weren’t enough change rooms; it was a farce. We made complete idiots of ourselves. Luckily, we lost!” he said, “otherwise Iran would’ve complained bitterly.”

It was against this backdrop that the first seeds of his vision to improve tennis were sown. His dream was to create a place for children from all walks of life to come and play tennis – to grow the sport and create future stars in a centre of excellence “where no child would be turned away”.

Money to start up the ITC first came from South Africa, said Froman. He initially brought the idea back home in the early ’70s, hoping to raise much-needed funds.

Froman, who had little if any experience in fundraising, soon joined forces with five other “passionate, tennis-loving people” – Rubin Josephs, Harold Landesberg, Joe Shane, William Lippy and Freddy Krivine – all tennis contacts of his from around the world. They were a motley crew who shared a common vision to “bring tennis to the masses, regardless of ethnic or financial background or religion”.

“We wanted to build the foundations to create champions in tennis and in life,” said Froman.

With the first monies raised through sheer chutzpah and gumption, they managed to convince Pesach Balkin, the then mayor of the area they’d targeted in Israel, to build a tennis centre on the only land earmarked for sport there. It was a strawberry field and, according to Froman, the mayor liked the idea so much, he rubberstamped the paperwork and pushed it through council, despite facing a lot of opposition at the time.

The US investors wanted a world-class facility. Froman agreed, and no cent was spared. “Goedkoop is duurkoop,” he explains.

The ITC opened in the upmarket area of Ramat Hasharon on April 25 1976, with 14 tennis courts. There was much excitement.

Ruth recalls how dozens of children flocked to the centre during the early years. “It was all by word of mouth. Ian used a foghorn when he opened the gates, and the children kept rolling in.”

“All we had were 10 rackets and 10 tennis balls; that was it,” recalls Froman, who describes those early days as “the ITC’s golden years”.

“There were so many volunteers. People brought delicious cakes and we made dozens of sandwiches,” adds Ruth, who worked in the tuckshop with her children. “People paid a stipend and no kid was turned away for lack of funds.”

The ITC has always been a not-for-profit organisation, funded by donors from around the world.

“We have never had a cent from the government. The ITC is not a place for politics,” said Froman. “It is a social service organisation for all children in Israel and serves more than 20 000 Israeli children every year.”

Today there are 15 internationally acclaimed centres which, says Froman, “stretch from Kiryat Shmona in the north to Ofakim in the south”.

“Many of our centres are in underprivileged neighbourhoods. They are strategically situated to work with children at risk and with immigrant populations.”

Sunday was a special day for the Fromans as the victorious team bid them farewell with warm handshakes and backslapping embraces before catching their flight home.

Team captain Harel Levi, himself a product of the ITC, said: “The tennis centre is a holy place for tennis in Israel.”

Levi started playing tennis when he was eight years old on the kibbutz where he lived. Soon his parents realised he needed to attend the ITC if he wanted to make it in the game.

“We moved closer to Ramat Hasharon and soon the centre became my second home,” he recalled. “It was a place to make friends, learn life lessons and have fun.”

Yoni Yarom, chairperson of the Israeli Tennis Association, chipped in, calling Froman “Mr Tennis”.

“He not only is the father of tennis, he invented it!” he added.

The ITC website is full of alumni, who express their gratitude for the role the ITC played in their early lives as they spent much of their youth honing their skills there.

“It gives me a sense of sipuk – personal fulfilment and satisfaction – knowing that a whole generation of people have used tennis as a medium to develop themselves in sport and in life,” said Froman.