Another update has appeared to the continuing exploits of Israel’s No.2 tennis player Amir Weintraub, whose escapades I first covered here. The third installment of his adventures – entitled ‘Crash’ – has been translated and posted in the original forum thread (it’s on page 5).
Following hard on our hero’s adventures at the Australian Open qualifying, this entry deals with the soul-miring comedown of returning to the minor leagues. Weintraub has gone from scraping into qualifying as an alternate in Melbourne, to being top seed at a Futures event in own his country, a radical downshift in pond-size. The prose is as simple and evocative as ever, and the theme provides a salutory message to the likes of Bernard Tomic and Milos Raonic, who will undergo similarly undignified journies from roaring centre courts to arid backlots.
There is some light for Weintraub, who has been selected for the Israeli Davis Cup squad. However, the promise of this experience exerts a distraction commensurate with Melbourne, and caught between them, he loses to a player ranked 400 spots below him. Cue soul-searching.