is season, but if I cannot make it back into the top 100, then this will be my last season.”

Sela reached a career high of 29  in 2009, when he made the fourth round at Wimbledon and helped Israel to the semi-finals of the Davis Cup.

He has won nearly $4million in prize money, including 22 Challenger titles, more than any other world player.

Only two other Israelis, Amos Mansdorf and Shlomo Glickstein, have reached a higher ranking in men’s tennis.

Israel’s top-ranked women’s player, Julia Glushko (124), will also miss the first month of the new season after having surgery on an injured knee.