In Israel, a land attuned to the ancient texts of the world’s monotheistic faiths, the words “my cup overflows” possess a considerable amount of historical weight and meaning. That phrasing comes from scripture, of course–it’s no small thing in the Holy Land to encounter a lavish and abundant blessing.

Now, 108 years after the Davis Cup began, tennis fans in Israel can celebrate along with their racket-wielding heroes.

Yes, the party is on in Tel Aviv. On a weekend that saw Spain, the Czech Republic, and Croatia win their quarterfinal ties, it was the Israeli Davis Cup team that stole the show. Carried by unlikely heroes–in the spirit of this electrifying international event–Israel filled its cup and then some, defeating Russia, 4-1, to claim the first semifinal berth in the nation’s tennis existence.

Ever heard of the name Harel Levy? Only if you’re a true tennis diehard. Levy carried an ATP Tour singles record of 58-87, plus a world ranking of 210, into this weekend’s tie at Nokia Arena in Tel Aviv. Never able to get past the second round of a Grand Slam singles event, Levy figured to be relatively easy pickings for Russia’s Igor Andreev, a solid top-30 player with a punishing forehand. Levy, however, had a surprise in store for his Russian guest.

Inspired by a fervent home crowd and motivated to win for his country, Levy–doing what other modest pros such as Guy Forget (France, 1991) and Magnus Larsson (Sweden, 1994) managed to achieve in prior years–carried his underdog nation in a Davis Cup tie. Levy’s four-set win over Andreev, in the first rubber of the quarterfinal clash, immediately changed the tone of the tussle between one nation that had never made a deep run in Davis Cup (Israel) and the country that had won two Cups in the past seven years while also reaching the final in another (Russia). With momentum fully on the side of the Israelis on friendly indoor-carpet turf, Levy’s more accomplished partner, world No. 33 Dudi Sela, thumped Mikhail Youzhny in four more sets to give the hosts a 2-0 lead after Friday’s first session. Israel stood one point from the finish line, but that gleaming goal felt a million miles away, given the frailty of the larger situation.

On Saturday, the calculus shifted. Instead of playing merely to stay alive, the Israelis had a chance to clinch the tie with their standout doubles team of Andy Ram and Jonathan Ehrlich. Doubles might provide just one of the four available points in Davis Cup duels, but in light of the relative weakness of his singles players (never mind the aberration of Friday’s opening matches), Israeli team captain Eyal Ran had to be hoping, with all his might, that his doubles team could remove any and all suspense from Sunday’s second pair of singles rubbers. On one hand, Israel had to love its chances with Ram and Ehrlich on the prowl. Then again, an upset loss would have put the Russians back in a fairly favorable position for Sunday. Rarely has a Davis Cup participant faced such pressure while owning a two-rubber lead in the best-of-five-rubber tournament format.

It took awhile, mind you, for Ram and Ehrlich to put all the pieces together, but for a nation that had never tasted the sweetness of a Davis Cup semifinal, no one in Tel Aviv was complaining.

Ram and Ehrlich–clearly nervous in the face of their grand opportunity–blew a two-set lead but rallied to recover on Saturday. The tandem broke Marat Safin’s serve in the tenth game of the fifth set to beat Safin and partner Igor Kunitsyn, locking up the third and deciding point of the tie. The crowd inside Nokia Arena went bonkers, as did a bunch of tennis lifers who delivered the greatest and most meaningful performance they’ll ever produce between the painted white lines.

Sure, Israel will be a huge underdog heading into Sept. 18’s semifinals at defending champion Spain. Know something else? No one will care. Another nation can now sing of a semifinal showing in Davis Cup play.

The cup that is full of joy and laughter will be overflowing with choice beverages tonight and for weeks to come. Israel has arrived, and the Davis Cup party is richer as a result.

DAVIS CUP QUARTERFINAL SCOREBOARD

NOTE: Results exclude specific scores of dead rubbers

Israel d. Russia, 4-1 (Tel Aviv, Israel)

Harel Levy (ISR) d. Igor Andreev (RUS), 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2

Dudi Sela (ISR) d. Mikhail Youzhny (RUS), 3-6, 6-1, 6-0, 7-5

Jonathan Ehrlich and Andy Ram (ISR) d. Igor Kunitsyn and Marat Safin (RUS), 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 4-6, 6-4

Israel clinches tie, 3-0, before Sunday’s dead singles rubbers

Spain d. Germany, 3-2 (Marbella, Spain)

Fernando Verdasco (ESP) d. Andreas Beck (GER), 6-0, 3-6, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-1

Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) d. Tommy Robredo (ESP), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4

Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco (ESP) d. Nicolas Kiefer and Mischa Zverev (GER), 6-3, 7-6 (1), 6-7 (6), 6-3

Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) d. Fernando Verdasco (ESP), 6-4, 6-2, 1-6, 2-6, 8-6

Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP) d. Andreas Beck (GER), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 (fifth and deciding rubber)

Czech Republic d. Argentina, 3-2 (Ostrava, Czech Republic)

Tomas Berdych (CZE) d. Juan Monaco (ARG), 6-4, 2-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2

Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) d. Ivo Minar (CZE), 6-1, 6-3, 6-3

Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek (CZE) d. Jose Acasuso and Leonardo Mayer (ARG), 6-1, 6-4, 6-3

Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) d. Tomas Berdych (CZE), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4

Radek Stepanek (CZE) d. Juan Monaco (ARG), 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-2 (fifth and deciding rubber)

Croatia d. United States, 3-2 (Porec, Croatia)

Ivo Karlovic (CRO) d. James Blake (USA), 6-7 (5), 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3), 7-5

Marin Cilic (CRO) d. Mardy Fish (USA), 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-1, 8-6

Bob and Mike Bryan (USA) d. Roko Karanusic and Lovro Zovko (CRO), 6-3, 6-1, 6-3

Marin Cilic (CRO) d. James Blake (USA), 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2

Croatia clinches tie, 3-1; dead fifth rubber won by United States

UPCOMING DAVIS CUP SCHEDULE

SEMIFINALS – September 18-20

Israel at Spain

Czech Republic at Croatia

Sixteen long years after having her career derailed, a renewed Monica Seles found reason to celebrate once again.

The 35-year-old–for reasons beyond her control–could not become the single most accomplished champion in the history of women’s tennis, but the nine-time major champion richly deserved to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. After Saturday afternoon’s ceremony in Newport, R.I., this Yugoslavian-born phenom, now an American citizen, joined the ranks of her sport’s legends. In so doing, Seles bound together the joys and sorrows that have marked a tumultuous yet deeply meaningful journey. A young woman ambushed by the trauma of a savage attack has now become a grown woman with a fuller understanding of life… and a piece of tennis immortality.

In many ways, this Hall of Fame moment offers Seles the chance to close the book on her young adult life, or more literally, to write a book. Seles is using this Hall of Fame honor to promote a new book, Getting a Grip: On My Mind, My Body, My Self. The text–much like Saturday’s grand occasion in Newport–serves to encapsulate the ups and downs of a life that, once seemingly destined to rise to the very top of women’s tennis, took multiple turns for the worse before stabilizing in recent years. It’s taken a long time for Seles to accept the unwanted path she’s traveled, but the combination of the Hall of Fame and her autobiography reveal a soul that has mended much of what ailed her over the past 16 years.

The day that the darkness first rolled into Monica Seles’s life was April 30, 1993. On that sunny afternoon in Hamburg, Germany, a black thundercloud of a man named Gunther Parche somehow breached security (much as the thrill-seeking “Jimmy Jump” managed to not only get on court, but touch Roger Federer, in the recent French Open men’s singles final) and stabbed Seles in the back. The experience was frightening for a woman just 19 years old at the time, and the pain of the knife was acute as it dug into the flesh of the best female tennis player on the planet. Yet, for all the searing agony of the actual attack, the true demon enmeshed in that act of insanity (Parche plainly viewed himself as a huge fan of Seles’s main rival, Steffi Graf; that the attack occurred in Graf’s native Germany only added to the ugliness of the incident) was the lingering fear of stepping onto a court.

It took two and a half years for Seles to come back to the WTA Tour. True, a woman of just 21 years of age was still able to rediscover her trademark groundstrokes–which had already authored eight wins in Grand Slam tournaments before the stabbing–but for a fierce on-court competitor, the psychology of sports had become something altogether different from what she had known and loved. Seles would reach the final of the 1995 U.S. Open (losing to Graf in three sets) and then win the 1996 Australian Open for her ninth major crown, but as time passed in the second half of the 1990s, it became clear that Seles lacked the steely and ruthless consistency that brought her to the top of the women’s game. The same person who–as a 17-year-old–memorably outlasted Jennifer Capriati in a spellbinding 1991 U.S. Open semifinal (7-6 in the third and final set, after roughly three hours of the best ballstriking ever seen from two mid-teen competitors) was now a slower, more uncertain version of her old, dominating self. While she was still able to rack up a lot of quarterfinal and semifinal showings at the biggest events on the tennis calendar, Seles was no longer the force that chewed up the WTA Tour in the early ’90s, winning three straight Aussies (1991-’93), three straight Frenches (1990-’92), and two straight U.S. Opens (1991-’92). Eating up majors left and right, Seles was quickly compiling a career trajectory that would have enabled the Yugoslavian to exceed 20 Grand Slam championships, and challenge Margaret Smith Court (24 major singles titles) for first on the all-time list. But when Gunther Parche unleashed the forces of hell in Hamburg (thanks in part to the incompetence of lax security forces), that race to the top of women’s tennis came to an abrupt halt. When one then considers the additional pain Seles endured when her beloved father-coach, Karolj, died in 1998, it’s even easier to understand why Monica couldn’t muster the magic in the latter stages of her career. In many ways, it’s patently unfair to say that Seles won “only” nine slam titles. Given the wrenching and heartbreaking events that hijacked her sense of peace (and led her to engage in binge eating, a dark period discussed in her book), it’s so gratifying and edifying to see Seles–now in her mid-thirties and no longer in need of winning tennis matches–moving on with her life and looking forward to new joys in adulthood.

Tennis’s Hall of Fame is noted for its continuously controversial admissions standards. Relatively unaccomplished singles players (think Jana Novotna) have been able to earn a ticket inside the Hall of Fame’s gates. In Monica Seles’s case, however, the “what might have been?” clouds hanging over her career were never going to prevent this resilient woman from attaining the recognition she so deeply and richly deserved.

Monica Seles has been through hell and back. Saturday–and for all time, too–a monument to true tennis excellence received what was duly hers, in many more ways than one.

As the tragic news of professional tennis player Mathieu Montcourt’s death circulates, his as of yet unexplained death unearths a certain shameful side to the modern world of tennis.

Montcourt’s body was found in his Paris apartment on Monday by his girlfriend and an autopsy is expected to be carried out as soon as possible. The death has shocked the tennis world just days after yet another successful Wimbledon tournament.

The loss is significant to the game and comes with deep regret that the player, who was only 24, never had the chance to fully redeem himself after accusations of forming irregular betting patterns by placing large sums of money on tennis matches.

Professionals are forbidden from betting on matches and while Montcourt never punted on his own outcomes, he was widely believed to have influenced a number of outcomes during June and September of 2005.

In 2008, he was fined £7,500 ($12,000) and suspended for 8 weeks by the ATP for his suspect betting history. The Frenchman returned to the game eager to rectify his torn reputation and looked to be doing so as by June of this year he had achieved his highest career ranking of 104 after reaching the second round at the French Open.

Sadly, that was as much as this young man was able to do before his untimely death. Moncourt mainly played in the circuit’s challenger events but was a regular on the ATP tour, and it is unfortunate that his death is likely to reemerge talk of gambling in tennis.

With Moncourt’s mistakes plus the case of Latvian player Irakli Labadze and gambler Martin Fuhrer put to rest in recent years, authorities were foolish to believe that the problem was eradicated.

Throughout this years Wimbledon tournament, certain inconsistencies were apparent with scoreboards both on the BBC’s television coverage and several well-respected sports websites.

Constant delays in updates of points and games won were seen on broadcasters’ scoreboards day in day out on even the most obscure games on SW19. It may not seem like a big problem, but in-play betting in tennis has become a phenomenon in recent months, especially in Britain were Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam shown on terrestrial television.

Thus, punters rely on internet scoreboards and the more trustworthy one on live BBC television coverage as in-play odds change constantly on online gambling websites with every point won. The theory behind the noticeable irregular score summaries is that scoreboard operators are being given backhanders for stalling their updates so punters can have time to place a bet before bookies have time to alter their odds.

For instance, a tie break in the first set of a match will have odds of the match winner yo-yoing as the players battle it out for the first set advantage. Punters can have eye witnesses courtside and on the phone giving immediate updates while bookkeepers heavily rely on the media’s coverage for updates, and with scoreboard operators delaying their duties with brass in pocket, a bet can be placed before the bookies even know of any change in score.

The theory opens up a whole new conspiracy towards gambling in tennis. Respected British newspaper The Guardian revealed before Wimbledon that the ATP were monitoring “six to twelve” players as match-fixing suspects throughout the tournament, whether irregularities were found from those unnamed players remains to be seen.

However, the latest craze of in-play gambling may force the ATP to turn their attentions to other areas of gambling in tennis as the US Open draws near. Many critics feel grunting is the biggest problem in the modern game, I for one feel punting poses a much greater threat.

Roger Federer needed 16 games in the fifth and deciding set to win his 15th major tournament.

Such a poetically appropriate detail helps explain how a legendary athlete became even more of an icon on Sunday evening at Wimbledon, and yet, in the aftermath of another classic gentlemen’s singles final at the Big W, that numerical twist can’t even begin to convey the full measure of the 4-hour, 17-minute epic that unfolded on the world’s most famous tennis court.

In a narrowly-confined sense, Federer merely did what nearly everyone expected him to do against Andy Roddick: Win, and claim sole possession of the record for singles titles at major championships, leaving Pete Sampras–a late-arriving attendee in the Royal Box–alone in second place. Yet, a more expansive view of Sunday’s scintillating showstopper can’t adequately contain all the narratives and emotions that poured forth from another fabulous final at SW19.

Federer might have been the official winner in a 5-7, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 16-14 marathon against Roddick, but the aftermath of the match was dominated not so much by celebrations of the Swiss’s long-awaited achievement as it was by a recognition of the American underdog’s mighty effort… and overwhelming heartbreak.

Federer will not find it a problem to bathe in another ocean of accolades, congratulations, British pounds (850,000 of them), and signs around the All-England Club recognizing his 2009 victory at The Championships. Pundits and fans have found it very easy to praise the 27-year-old giant who just elevated his status to an even greater degree in the annals of men’s tennis. As he prepares to welcome his first child into the world with wife Mirka this summer, Roger will be well Fed and comforted in many more ways than one.

The man who made this moment was Roddick, a tireless and always-sincere competitor who played the best match of his life–even better than against Andy Murray in Friday’s semifinals–yet still lost. The American’s fate is oh-so-similar to what Elena Dementieva experienced in her Thursday loss to Serena Williams in the ladies’ singles semis: A max-out performance of epic proportions was somehow, someway, not rewarded with a breakthrough result. Roddick does have a major to his credit (the 2003 U.S. Open), but the 26-year-old who has long hungered for Wimbledon will improbably have to wait another year for his day in the sunshine of victory.

It can’t be said any more plainly than this: Roddick played like a Wimbledon champion on Sunday. The No. 6 seed outplayed the second-seeded Federer, making fewer unforced errors (33 to 38) while–in an interesting case of role reversal–providing a steadier brand of backcourt play and a generally superior passing shot. Federer typically bosses Roddick around the court–that’s how the Swiss accumulated an 18-2 head-to-head record in 20 prior meetings–but in this match, Roddick’s retooled game, molded into stern and steely stuff by new coach Larry Stefanki, gave Federer fewer looks at easy winners. Roddick’s massively improved two-handed backhand attained considerably greater depth, while the American’s forehand drove through the court and repeatedly surprised the Swiss. No longer pushing the ball as he had in past encounters with Fed, Roddick varied his angle of attack to get a decorated champion off balance behind the baseline.

How, then, did Roddick not manage to translate his excellence into a win against a more frail form of Federer, who didn’t possess his customary zing on his groundstrokes?

By losing a handful of very precious points, that’s how.

Grass-court tennis, more than the clay or hardcourt forms of the sport, demands an ability to win the small but significant points that matter more than most. The uneven bounces created by the organic playing surface, plus the low, skidding action of the ball as it rubs off on the blades of grass, simply make it that much more difficult to break serve on the green stuff. This year, the lawns of Wimbledon played quicker than they had in prior years, and as a result, more matches acquired the shape and texture of a traditional grass-court match: namely, a serve-fest defined by tiebreakers and break-point conversions in which chances for glory come and go very quickly.

Roddick did break Federer to win the first and fourth sets, but the American might have been lifting his first Wimbledon trophy had he been able to convert just one point in the second set.

It’s hard to think of a bigger tiebreak than a second-set tiebreak; either the leader in the match takes a two-set lead, or the trailer in the match evens the score at a set apiece. Roddick, having taken the opening stanza, roared to a 6-2 lead in the second-set tiebreak before Federer–with a flick backhand on Roddick’s serve and then two powerful serves of his own–erased three set points in succession. Roddick would have preferred to own two serves at 6-3 in that tiebreak, but after Fed held his two-serve sequence to get to 6-5, Roddick still enjoyed a position he could only have dreamed about before Sunday’s match began: One serve, in his hands, on his racket, for a two-set lead against a five-time Wimbledon champion. Much as hard-serving Ivo Karlovic rolled to the quarterfinals at this event by getting into tiebreaks and then laying down the hammer with his serve, Roddick similarly had Federer on the ropes. One ace or service winner, and the loser of the 2004 and 2005 finals to Federer would gain sweet revenge in 2009.

Oh, but Roddick couldn’t deliver the thumper he so badly needed, and then–after playing a pretty good point off a second ball–the underdog, for the only time in the match, cracked under pressure. He had a high backhand volley to the open court, the second set waiting to be won, but the shot sailed wide. A perfect opportunity–the chance of a lifetime–had gone by the boards for the man who wanted Wimbledon so desperately.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Federer–saver of four set points in a row–breathed easier once he climbed to 6-all in the tiebreak. The Swiss used a passing shot and a steady hand from the backcourt to claim the next two points and even the match in the process. These two skilled stick-wielders fashioned a fifth set for the ages, but if Roddick had converted the 6-5 point in the second-set breaker, a packed Centre Court crowd might never have seen the special spectacle.

There were two other points–yes, just two of them; tennis is that cruel–Roddick failed to win on Sunday, but in this instance, the American could do precious little about the outcome. Whereas the 6-5 point in the second-set breaker was donated by a Roddick error, Federer prevented his feisty foe from having a say in the matter as the fifth set just kept continuing. At 8-all, Roddick’s backcourt game and passing shot arsenal created a 15-40 advantage and two break points that put the sixth seed on the verge of serving for the championship. Federer, though, displaying the composure of the champion he is, hammered an ace and then a serve-swinging volley combo to swat away the two break chances. In an ice-veins display oh-so-similar to the 2007 Wimbledon final against Rafael Nadal (Fed saved 15-40 at both 1-all and 2-all in the fifth set en route to victory over Rafa two years ago), Fed looked death in the eye and prevailed. So strong was Federer on serve that he never faced a break point in his other 14 (yes, that’s not a typo) fifth-set service games. Roddick wasn’t too shabby, either, allowing just two break points of his own in 15 service games. With both players shrugging off the occasional mis-hit or bad bounce, the final and deciding stanza carried on into its 30th game. But as shadows began to engulf Centre Court, the knowledge of his escape at 8-all had to lift Federer’s confidence.

That small but meaningful measure of additional belief would finally enter the foray with Roddick serving to stay in the match (for the 11th time, one should add) at 14-15.

Having played so well for so long, Roddick–due to losing three key points out of the 428 that were played up to that moment–still trailed on a day when his effort should have been sufficient to land him in the locker room as a gleeful Wimbledon champion. But because he couldn’t snare each and every opportunity that came his way, Roddick had to toe the service line to remain on court a little while longer.

But after 428 points, it would soon be clear that in the final eight points of the day, Roddick’s tank just ran out of fuel.

The American’s legs simply lost their juice in the 30th game of the longest fifth set in the history of any major championship. The longest Wimbledon final in terms of games played (77) finally ended because Roddick began to cough up the errors he had minimized for the previous four-plus hours. Big serves got Roddick out of a love-30 deficit and offered the American a game point at 40-30, but with his first serve unable to close the deal, a still-fresh Federer played percentage tennis and waited out Roddick long enough to draw shanked shots from the tiring man from Texas. When Federer got his first championship point–only his second break point of a marathon set–Roddick was not able to keep the ball in the court. A framed forehand sailed well beyond the playing surface, and Federer–despite operating at a level well below his best–had found the fortitude to gut out his sixth Wimbledon title, but more importantly, his 15th major crown.

This match–given the bewildering, beautiful, ballsy nature of its sprawling, sweeping fifth-set finale–did not deserve to have a loser, but competitive athletics inevitably must. Roger Federer won this Wimbledon title, but the cruel and heartless aspect of this titanic tennis tilt was that Andy Roddick, never better in his life, was still consigned to second place.

Federer was muted and modest in post-match celebrations and press conferences. That’s entirely appropriate given the heart–and heartbreak–which colored Andy Roddick’s performance on a golden day in England. It’s ironic that Federer’s march to “15″ became so subdued at the end, but a drained and dejected American athlete deserves to be paid such respect after another stomach-punch loss he frankly didn’t deserve.