Israel had high hopes of defeating Slovenia in the Davis Cup tennis tie and advancing to the Davis Cup World Group I. Instead, after losing four straight matches to Slovenia outdoors on the clay courts at the Tennis Academy Breskvar in Ljubljana, Slovenia, the blue-and-white are relegated to the World Group II playoffs in February 2027.
The two-day tournament featuring two singles matches, doubles and reverse singles on Sept. 18-19, began with Israel’s top player, Amit Vales (ranked 589) facing Bor Artnak (511) in the opening match. Vales put up a tough fight but ultimately fell in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.
In Friday’s second match, Orel Kimhi (716) showed great promise in the first set, breaking Slovenia’s top player, Filip Planinšek (491), at three games each to go up 4-3 and holding serve to go up 5-3. Planinšek battled back to 6-6 and took the first-set tiebreak 7-2 before closing out the match 6-1.
In Saturday’s doubles match, Daniel Cuckierman (1,374) and Ofek Shimanov (902) faced Sebastian Dominko (705) and Ziga Sesko (688). The visitors put up a strong fight in a two-hour, 21-minute match, where they took Israel’s only set of the two-day tournament. In the end, they lost 6-3, 6-7, 6-4.
While the Slovenians clinched a Davis Cup victory in the doubles match, the fourth match, singles, was played “for fun,” with Dominko—back on court after doubles—easily defeating Ben Weintraub in just one hour, 6-3, 6-3.
Israel Tennis Association CEO Danny Perkalsky was optimistic when he spoke with JNS before Friday’s matches. “We are very excited to play here in Slovenia and represent Israel. The Davis Cup always elicits strong feelings when our national team is playing. The guys are looking great and together, and we hope to have a good result and return again to Division 1.“
