Last weekend, Guy Sassoon became the first Israeli Paralympic tennis player ever to qualify for the final of the Australian Open, and the second ever to qualify for a Grand Slam final, after Noam Gershoni did so at the US Open in 2011.
Guy Sassoon, the Paralympic tennis player, Australian vice champion
The 43-year-old Sasson, married and the father of four children, did lose in the final (6:3, 6:3) to the second ranked in the world, the Dutchman Sam Schroeder, but the encouraging start of the season gives him a lot of motivation for the rest of the way, when the Paralympic games in Paris are at the center of attention.
Sassoon was injured in 2015, during a ski vacation in France, where he had a serious accident on a snowboard, which caused him to fall off a cliff.
As a result, his spinal cord was severed - an injury that led to surgeries, a long hospitalization and a year and a half of rehabilitation in Tel Hashomer.
At that time, he was looking for a sports frame that would suit him.
When he was released from the hospital, he arrived at the Spivak Club in Ramat Gan.
Sasson wanted to practice swimming, but at the same time a new coach arrived at the club, Ofri Lankeri, who attracted him to wheelchair tennis.
Day by day Sasson gained confidence and at the same time also fell in love with the industry.
After a short time he was called to the national team and started playing in the world tour.
How much did sports help you in rehabilitation?
"It helped me a lot. I got out of the hospital, but I felt I still had to recover and I didn't know what I was doing in the community. I was afraid to leave the hospital, because I didn't know what was waiting for me outside, I left the hospital a different person than when I entered it.
"There was psychological concern, physical concern. You face all kinds of things that you didn't have before, such as climbing stairs, balance, driving. I was looking for a setting outside the hospital, where I could continue the rehabilitation process and I found the Spivak Center which simply adopted me. I acquired a lot there Confidence, new dreams, ability to deal with real life. It's beyond the game itself."
When you see quite a few war wounded now, you probably recommend them to play sports
"I have a message to convey, certainly to the young guys. I was injured late in life and I didn't let myself put my head down, but I guess when you're 20 and the whole world is still ahead of you, and you plan the trip after the army and suddenly receive this blow - it may cause you to sink into depression and say 'why did this happen to me?'
or 'How do I deal with this now?'.
"My message is that there is life after this injury. True, it is a different life, but it is not necessarily less good. When I tell about my injury, people tell me 'I'm sorry to hear', and I tell them I'm not sorry, what happened happened and that's what happened And now I have a new life and I have moved on. Today the community welcomes you outside and there are many possibilities."
Sassoon (left) with the winner of the Schroeder final, photo: AFP
Speaking of war, you played in the doubles tournament with the South African Donald Rampadi, this at the same time as his country's trial in The Hague against Israel. Wasn't that a little weird?
"At first it was strange, at least to me, because he was not aware of the situation. Not because of the aspect that he is South African and what his country is doing, but because there was an article about a cricketer who was expelled for supporting Israel, and I was afraid that he would return to his country and it would hurt him. But he He wasn't aware of the whole thing, and his coach told me to let it go and that it's irrelevant. Sports is beyond politics and I guess we'll continue to play together."
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Already see Paris on the horizon?
"Paris is around the corner and we are already preparing for it, we have several more important tasks on the way, such as Roland Garros and Wimbledon, where I should face my strongest opponents in the Paris Games. Australia was a good preparation, where I played against the top ranked and also beat the world number one , the Dutch Nils Vink. I've been working on my aggressiveness and speed, and I'm aiming for gold in Paris."
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