After a terrible weekend, our thoughts are with our brothers and sisters in the Sydney Jewish community after Sunday's terrorist attack. We hope and pray for a full and speedy recovery for those that were injured and mourn the loss of so many innocent people murdered while celebrating Chanukah and expressing their Jewish identity. A tragic and devastating time for the entire Jewish community and for all Australians.

Earlier in the weekend, on a perfect afternoon for tennis, 4 out of the 6 Maccabi teams registered a win to end the year.

This Thursday night (18 December from 7:30pm-9:30pm) will be the last organised practice session for 2025. There will be practice sessions throughout the summer break in 2026.
The 2025 Victorian Jewish Tennis Championships Boys Singles final will be held on Saturday 20 December at 10am for those interested in seeing the future of the club (Dean Jackson vs Asher Brami).

Below: Section 7 team (Steve Bendel. Daniel Vertes, Adam Needleman and Errol Dorfan) with a win against the top team.

BRTA Summer Pennant

Section 3 Maccabi 1-2-42 defeated by Overport Park 5-7-56

Jonny Henquin 6-8
Marty Schwarz 4-8
Joey Pat 8-3
Rob Minc 5-8
Jonny Henquin/ Marty Schwarz 2-6 1-6
Joey Pat/ Rob Minc 4-6 6-4 6-7

Section 5 Maccabi 3-5-53 defeated Hurlingham Park 3-4-46

Ilay Givoni 8-2
Saul Muscatel 5-8
Luka Federman 8-5
Arvid Kreimer 5-8
Ilay Givoni/ Saul Muscatel 6-2 7-5
Luka Federman/ Arvid Kreimer 2-6 6-3 6-7

Section 6 Maccabi 3-5-54 defeated Kooyong 3-4-47

Ryan Behr 7-8
Nathan Rapoport 8-2
Daniel Henquin 8-5
Charlie Landau 1-8
Ryan Behr/ Nathan Rapoport 6-4 6-2
Daniel Henquin/ Charlie Landau 6-7 6-4 6-7
 

In a close contest we got the chocolates over the higher ranked Kooyong by one set.

Ryan and Nathan played together for the first time with great success. The first set was tight but they then stormed home in the second.

On the next court Daniel started with singles. He had a lot of long tough rallies but his steady consistency proved the difference.

Nathan and Ryan then played singles. Nathan had the easier time, getting out to a 6-0 start. Ryan fought hard against a skillful big serving opponent, pushing him to a tiebreak but falling at the final hurdle.

With a 3-1 lead in rubbers, Nathan and Ryan then watched on while Daniel and Charlie fought a tough doubles match, unaware of Charlie's singles result.

In singles Charlie faced the same opponent as earlier in the year who again proved too strong.

The final doubles match proved decisive. After going down in the first set tiebreaker Daniel and Charlie sealed the victory winning the second set before going down in the super tiebreak.

The victory means we will stay in touch with the top 4 and have a good chance of breaking in next year.

- Nathan Rapoport

Section 7 Maccabi 4-6-58 defeated Tennis World 2-3-34

Steve Bendel 8-0
Adam Needleman 8-2
Errol Dorfan 4-8
Daniel Vertes 8-1
Steve Bendel/ Adam Needleman 6-3 6-2
Errol Dorfan/ Daniel Vertes 6-4 6-7 6-7

After a costly washout last week against the fourth team who we felt that we could beat and playing the top side it was a must win if we were to stay in touch. Tennis World’s two top  untouchable players did not turn up and we inflicted their first defeat for the season . Still about 17 points from 4th but having won  the last three matches after losing the first five means we are an outside chance of finals.

Amazing effort from Steven Bendel losing only five games all afternoon and Daniel “Clutch” Vertes always winning the vital last rubber of the day for us in front of a huge crowd.

 - Adam Needleman

Section 8 Maccabi 1-2-41 defeated by Dendy Park 5-7-54

Steven Kleytman 8-1
Aden Minaker 2-8
Ashley Raboy 3-8
Daniel Brami 6-8
Steven Kleytman/ Ashley Raboy 3-6 6-4 6-7
Aden Minaker/ Daniel Brami 3-6 4-6

At home against Dendy Park in the final match of the year before the summer break.

Steve played against a leftie, with heaps of long rallies. Steve winning all the vital points to win 8-1.

Aden (who wasn't firing at 100%) unfortunately couldn't get it done, going down 2-8.

Ashley (who kindly filled in) played a fellow leftie, which was a bad matchup for Ash, going down 3-8.

Daniel played in the closest singles, with a break in play at 6-5 the turning point, going down 6-8.

Steve and Ash struggled early for 3-6 and down early in the 2nd set. They did manage to step up to take the 2nd set 6-4. However they went down in the match tiebreak 3-10.

Aden and Daniel lost the first set 3-6. However they did step up for 4-2, before running out of gas for 4-6.

Overall: a tough way to head into the summer break. However the team should get reinforcements in February (led by yours truly) to finish the season.

- Joel Rabinov

Section 9 Maccabi 3-4-43 defeated Highmoor Uniting 3-4-42

Jesse Stowe- Lindner 6-8
Ben Pollak 8-3
Sebastian Raboy 3-8
Jack Stock 8-5
Jesse Stowe- Lindner/ Sebastian Raboy 3-6 3-6
Ben Pollak / Paul Kovacs 6-3 6-3

Finished 2025 with the plan to play everyone, however unfortunately a couple unavailable and Joel being a thief in the night and stealing Ash 🤣🤣, we played with 5.

Started the day with doubles, Jesse and Seb unfortunately went down 6-3 6-3, but critically came back from 3-0 down the second set to still win 3 games. Paul and Ben oppositely was able to win 6-3 6-3 but again crucially as well were able to win the final 6 games of the match after being down 3-0 in the second set. Credit to Paul for his smarts around the court and coolness under pressure whilst Ben was able to also hold his own especially with the serve.

After doubles, we were dead equal, in Singles, Jesse was up against a HUGE server and although match was basically game for game, he couldn’t quite get over the line, going down 8-6.

Jack started great going up 3-1 but as the match tightened up at 5-5, he was clutch to then win the final 3 games (importantly) to take it 8-5. Credit to Jack as well for then after his match coaching his opponent and helping a younger player out. 

Ben was then able to win 8-3 in a pretty consistent performance, whilst as this match finished Sebastian was unfortunately down 5-2. Overall, it meant Sebastian needed to win at least 1 more game for the win and was able to clutch out the next game to get it back to 5-3 leading to a very important team win. Unfortunately Sebastian couldn’t quite get over the line, going down 8-3 but definitely played an important part in our win.

Overall, a massive win to end 2025, we move to the new year in the finals spots and plan to get better and better and win a championship in 2026.

- Ben Pollak