Tennis - 2003

At Fairfax High School, tennis phenom Giora Payes was a three-time L.A. City Varsity Singles Champion (1985-86-87)––only the second player in City history to record that achievement. He was a member of the U.S. Junior Davis Cup Team with Pete Sampras, Andre Aggasi and Michael Chang.
After playing freshman tennis at UCLA, Giora finished college in the midwest at Northwestern University. In his senior year, he captained the Wildcats tennis team and was named to the All-Big Ten Team.

As a 14-year old, Giora won both the Singles and Doubles championships at the 1984 JCC Maccabi Youth Games. He repeated the Singles victory in 1986. At the 1993 World Maccabiah Games in Israel, Giora won a gold medal in Doubles and a silver in Mixed Doubles.