The minister of Sport and Culture in Israel has hailed Dudi Sela as an ‘ethical professional’ for recently withdrawing from his quarter-final match at the Shenzhen Open.
On Friday the world No.77 was facing Alexandr Dolgopolov for a place in only his second ATP semifinal of the season. At one set apiece, Sela called it quits after playing one game at the start of the final set. He did undergo a brief medical timeout for an injury assessment, but it is believed that the real reason was for the Jewish festival of Yom Kippur. The 32-year-old was playing a late-night match with the religious event set to start at sunset.
Sports minister Miri Regev has praised Sela for his actions. In a post on her personal Facebook account, she described Sela as a role model for other Israelis to follow.
“I was so moved to hear that you had stopped your game in the middle due to Yom Kippur commencing. You are a professional with many achievements in Israel and abroad and at the end of this week you proved that you are also an ethical person who first and foremost represents Israel. May G-d bless you and stand by your side as you continue on your way. I am proud of you and am looking forward to meeting you in Israel.” Regev wrote.
As well as a place in the semifinals, Sela also missed out of a chance of earning $34,000. According to Vavel.com, he requested that his match be brought forward, but it was denied by tournament officials.
Yom Kippur, which is also known as the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. It is a 25-hour period where Jews fast and conduct intensive prayer. It is held of different dates every year due to the Jewish Calendar. The Jewish calendar is different to the regular one because it focuses on the moon cycle’s instead of the sun’s.
There has been no official comment for Sela, but his brother Ofer has spoken about the decision. Speaking to Israeli media, Ofer described his brother as not very religious, but stated that he quite the match out of respect for his religion and country.
“Dudi isn’t a religious man and he doesn’t usually fast on Yom Kippur and for the first time in his career he was forced to make this excruciating decision which affects his ATP ranking and cost him tens of thousands of dollars,” wrote Ofer Sela. “No one forced him to retire. He didn’t do it because he was afraid of anyone, or because he was asked to. He did it only because he respects Yom Kippur and the country which he represents.”
Sela is not the first person to skip a match for a religious holiday. In 2014 the Israeli Davis Cup team was forced to pay $14,000 for refusing to play their tie against Belgium on Yom Kippur. They originally requested to delay the clash, but hosts Belgium refused. Instead, the ITF intervened, but concluded that Israel must pay Belgium for the costs of delaying the tie.
So far in his career, Sela has reached the final of two ATP tournaments with the last occurring in 2014. He has been ranked as high as 29th in the world back in 2009.
