Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich returned to a hero's welcome at Ben-Gurion Airport on Monday morning, two days after making Israeli sporting history by claiming the Australian Open men's doubles title.

The Israeli duo, who became the first Israeli team to win a Grand Slam event, were met by Sports Minister Ghaleb Majadle and all the heads of Isreal's Tennis Association on their arrival.

"The excitement here is greater than after the match point in the final," Erlich said after landing in Israel.

"I never dreamt that we would reach such a moment. This is an amazing period, and this result shows that we can go all the way in the Olympics as well."

Ram could also hardly contain his excitement. "You play tennis all your life to reach these kinds of moments," he said.

"We believed we could accomplish this for years, and now we have done it. I've already taken two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, but those triumphs come nowhere near to what we did in Melbourne."

(more)