Romanian women's tennis is on the way to extinction, if we refer to the presence of our girls at the top of the world hierarchy. The truth highlighted this alarming situation at the very beginning of the week after the WTA rankings were updated.
Sorana Cîrstea
Unfortunately, the lack of high-level competitive athletes also affects our Billie Jean King Cup team. In 2019, when we had a stellar lineup, led by Simona Halep, the girls advanced to the semifinals of the competition, which, at the time, was called the Fed Cup. Unfortunately, after that dramatically lost match, in Rouen, against France (2-3), the Romanian team fell into ridicule. Abandoned by her stars and with defeats on the tape! In turn, the girls were defeated by Russia (2-3), Italy (1-3) and Poland (0-4). The series of failures only stopped in 2022, after a 4-0 against Hungary. Last year, Slovenia beat us 3-2, after which we recorded another success, 4-0 against Serbia.
Now, for the Romanian team, the confrontation with Ukraine follows, in the qualifications for the final tournament of the Billie Jean King Cup (April 12-14). And, in this context, the Romanian Tennis Federation (FRT) resumed an approach that also failed in the past. According to spotmedia.ro, FRT, through Horia Tecău (captain-non-player of the Romanian team), is trying to convince Sorana Cîrstea (33 years old, 22 WTA) to return to the Romanian team. The problem is that such an approach also ended in failure, relatively recently, in 2022.
Billie Jean King Cup now, Summer Olympics
The federation is now praying once again for Sorana in the hope that she will represent us at the Olympic Games in Paris (July 26 – August 11).
In 2021, in Tokyo, after the girls refused, one by one, to go to Japan, Romania ended up being represented at the Olympic Games by Mihaela Buzărnescu. Who was 33 years old at the time and was ranked 117 in the world!
Now, FRT wants Sorana Cîrstea to be in the team for the confrontation with Ukraine (April 12-14), and later, on account of this presence under the tricolor, to be eligible for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
“Sori” announced her withdrawal from Romania's 2018 team. At the time, it was reported that she made this decision because she was on cold terms with Simona Halep. Besides, Cîrstea later confirmed that she and Simona were never friends. The problem is that even after the disappearance of Simona from the Billie Jean King Cup team, Sorana did not agree to return. In March 2022, when Horia Tecău offered her to play against Poland, Cîrstea refused from the first. “I already talked to Sorana! She wished us all success, but for her, this chapter of playing in the national team is a closed chapter“, explained Tecău, two years ago.
And now, almost certainly, Cîrstea will say “not” at this opportunity to return to the Romanian team, especially since, at almost 34 years old, the age she will turn on April 7, she is determined to channel her energy on the WTA tournaments she is participating in this season.