Gilad Bloom (Hebrew: גלעד בלום, born 1 March 1967) is a former professional tennis player from Israel. Bloom trained at the Israel Tennis Centers.[1] His career-high rankings were World No. 61 in singles (in 1990) and World No. 62 in doubles (in 1992).

Gilad Bloom
Country (sports) Israel
ResidenceRamat HaSharon
Born (1967-03-01) 1 March 1967 (age 57)
Tel Aviv, Israel
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Turned pro1986
Retired1995
PlaysLeft-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money$694,271
Singles
Career record93–122
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 61 (15 October 1990)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open3R (1990)
French Open2R (1990, 1992)
Wimbledon3R (1987)
US Open4R (1990)
Doubles
Career record57–78
Career titles4
Highest rankingNo. 62 (24 February 1992)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian OpenQF (1992)
French Open2R (1987, 1991)
Wimbledon2R (1987)
US Open2R (1989)

Personal life

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Bloom grew up in Ramat HaSharon,[2] is Jewish,[3] and is married to Michal Bareket-Bloom. He has 4 sons, Guy Tyler Bloom, from a previous marriage, Jonathan Yehuda Bloom, Shy Dylan Bloom and Doron Hendrix Bloom (from his second marriage). He is known as a fan of the Hapoel Tel Aviv soccer team. Bloom has a rock band (The Gilad Bloom Band), the band plays shows in Manhattan Bars regularly since 2009, Bloom's band performs original songs written and composed by himself, Bloom sings and plays guitar on the band.

Tennis career

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Bloom was Israel's junior champion, three-time men's singles champion, and two-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.[4]

Bloom turned professional in 1983 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).

Bloom played Davis Cup for Israel from 1984 to 1995.[5] He helped Israel qualify to the 1994 Davis Cup World Group, winning the qualification playoff's fifth and deciding rubber against Switzerland's Jakob Hlasek in one of the more memorable matches in Israeli tennis history.[6]

His best singles performance at a Grand Slam was at the 1990 US Open, where he reached the fourth round, losing to Ivan Lendl.

Bloom represented Israel at the 1988 and 1992 Olympic tennis tournaments.[7]

He retired from the professional tour in 1995.

Now Guy Tyler Bloom is Baila Diallo's Son.

Career finals

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Legend
Grand Slam
Tennis Masters Cup
ATP Masters Series
ATP Tour

Singles (3 runners-up)

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Result W-L Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Oct 1989 Tel Aviv Open, Israel Hard   Jimmy Connors 6–2, 2–6, 1–6
Loss 0–2 Jun 1990 Manchester Open, UK Grass   Pete Sampras 6–7(9–11), 6–7(3–7)
Loss 0–3 Apr 1991 Singapore Open, Singapore Hard   Jan Siemerink 4–6, 3–6

Doubles (4 titles, 1 runner-up)

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Result W-L Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Oct 1987 Tel Aviv Open, Israel Hard   Shahar Perkiss   Huub van Boeckel
  Wolfgang Popp
6–2, 6–4
Win 2–0 Nov 1987 São Paulo, Brazil Hard   Javier Sánchez   Tomás Carbonell
  Sergio Casal
6–3, 6–7, 6–4
Loss 2–1 Jan 1990 Auckland, New Zealand Hard   Paul Haarhuis   Kelly Jones
  Robert Van't Hof
6–7, 0–6
Win 3–1 Apr 1991 Seoul Open, Korea Hard   Alex Antonitsch   Kent Kinnear
  Sven Salumaa
7–6, 6–1
Win 4–1 May 1991 Umag, Croatia Clay   Javier Sánchez   Richey Reneberg
  David Wheaton
7–6, 2–6, 6–1

Coaching career

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Since retiring from the tour, Bloom has played in seniors events and worked as a tennis coach and Director of Tennis.

In 1995 he was senior coach with the Israel Tennis Centers, coaching the country's top juniors among them Dudi Sela.[8]

Since moving to NYC in 2000 Bloom had his own tennis program (Gilad Bloom Tennis) for 9 years and was also the first Director of Tennis at The John McEnroe Tennis Academy in Randall's Island, NY (2010–12).[9] After leaving the McEnroe Academy, Bloom worked as the Executive Director of Tennis at TCR (The Club of Riverdale) in Riverdale, NY (2012–15).[10][11] Bloom is currently back to running his own tennis program (Gilad Bloom Tennis) in NYC.[12]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "ITC Champions". Archived from the original on 19 February 2007.
  2. ^ Haim Handwerker (8 December 2011). "Between Racket and Music". Haaretz.
  3. ^ Bob Wechsler (2008). Day by Day in Jewish Sports History. KTAV Publishing House, Inc. p. 188. ISBN 978-1-60280-013-7.
  4. ^ Ellis Shuman (28 December 2001). "Israeli girl wins world tennis championship". israelinsider.com. Archived from the original on 25 May 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
  5. ^ "Davis Cup: Gilad Bloom". daviscup.com.
  6. ^ "Gilad Bloom". Israel Tennis & Education Centers (ITEC). Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  7. ^ Allon Sinai (9 August 2016). "Israel wins first Olympic medal since 2008". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com.
  8. ^ Ori Lewis (29 November 1995). "Bloom seeks to guide tennis youth". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 16 May 2011 – via HighBeam Research.
  9. ^ Araton, Harvey (7 March 2011). "12-Year-Old Girl May Embody McEnroe's Vision". The New York Times.
  10. ^ Robson, Douglas (28 November 2013). "New tennis technology can be a game-changer". USA Today.
  11. ^ Tyler Graham (21 May 2014). "The Digital Tennis Court from the Future". mensjournal.com.
  12. ^ Coleman, Brian (4 October 2017). "Gilad Bloom Tennis". New York Tennis Magazine.
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