Shahar Perkiss (; born 14 October 1962) is an Israeli

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more Fine motor skill, dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dext ...

former professional

tennis player Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

. He reached his best singles ranking of world # 53 in March 1985. He peaked at world # 54 in the doubles rankings in November 1985. Perkiss won the silver medal in singles in tennis at the

1989 Maccabiah Games The 13th Maccabiah Games brought 4,500 athletes to Israel from 45 nations. Jewish athletes from Hungary participated for the first time since World War II, Jewish athletes from Russia had been permitted, by their country, to play for the first tim ...

, and won the gold medal in doubles playing alongside Boaz Merenstein.

Early life

Perkiss was born in

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

, Israel, and is Jewish.

Tennis career

A year after first picking up a tennis racket, Perkiss ranked No. 1 in Israel in the age 10 and under ranks. Perkiss trained at

Israel Tennis Centers Israel Tennis Centers ("ITC"; Hebrew language, Hebrew: המרכז לטניס בישראל) is the largest tennis, social service agency for children in Israel, serving more than a half million children and their families since its first center ope ...

. He reached his highest singles ATP ranking on 4 March 1985, when he became the # 53 player in the world. In 1982 in Houston he reeled off three upsets in a row, beating world No. 27

Ramesh Krishnan Ramesh Krishnan (born 5 June 1961) is an Indian tennis coach and former professional tennis player. As a junior player in the late 1970s, he won the singles titles at both, Wimbledon and the French Open. He went on to reach three Grand Slam q ...

, No. 37

Terry Moor Terry Moor (born April 23, 1952) is a former tennis player Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each ...

, and No. 36 Mark Dickson. In August 1984 he defeated world No. 9

Aaron Krickstein Aaron Krickstein (born August 2, 1967), nicknamed "Marathon Man", is an American former professional tennis player who competed on the ATP Tour from 1983 to 1996. He currently competes on the Outback Champions Series Over-30 tour. Krickstein r ...

in straight sets in Cincinnati. In 1986 he beat world # 10

Thierry Tulasne Thierry Tulasne (; born 12 July 1963) is a former tennis player from France, who won five singles titles during his professional career. He reached his career-high ATP singles ranking of World No. 10 in August 1986. Since his retirement, he ha ...

of France, 6–7, 6–2 6–4, in Kitzbuhel, Austria. In 1987, he and

Gilad Bloom Gilad Bloom (; born 1 March 1967) is a former professional tennis player from Israel. Bloom trained at the Israel Tennis Centers. His career-high rankings were World No. 61 in singles (in 1990) and World No. 62 in doubles (in 1992). Personal li ...

won the ATP doubles title in Tel Aviv.

Davis Cup

He played 31

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...

matches for Israel between 1981 and 1992, winning 18 of them, including 11 of 13 on hard courts.

Olympics

He represented Israel as a qualifier at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

. There, he was defeated in the first round by

Javier Frana Javier Alberto Frana Maggi (; born 25 December 1966) is a former tennis player from Argentina and former tennis commentator for ESPN Latin America. He won 1996 French Open mixed doubles title with compatriot Patricia Tarabini. Tennis career F ...

from

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Maccabiah Games

Perkiss won the silver medal in singles in tennis at the

, as he lost in the finals to South Africa's

Howard Joffe Howard Joffe (born October 24, 1971) is a South African tennis coach and former professional player. Playing career Born and raised in Johannesburg, Joffe ranked as high as second nationally as a junior. He was a singles gold medalist at the 1 ...

, part of the ROW (Rest of the World) team due to country sanctions, but won the gold medal in doubles playing alongside Boaz Merenstein.

Israel Tennis Association

In 2005, he became the CEO of the

Israel Tennis Association The Israel Tennis Association (the ITA; Hebrew: איגוד הטניס בישראל), founded in 1950, is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in Israel. The ITA governs the arrangements for Israeli tennis leagues and tournaments, Is ...

Career finals

Singles (1 runner-up)

Doubles (1 title)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Perkiss, Shahar 1962 births Living people Sportspeople from Haifa Israeli male tennis players Tennis players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic tennis players for Israel Jewish tennis players Jewish Israeli sportspeople University of Haifa alumni Maccabiah Games medalists in tennis Maccabiah Games silver medalists for Israel Competitors at the 1989 Maccabiah Games 20th-century Israeli sportsmen