Even on our journey home from Brasov we were planning our trip to Cluj in February, booking plane tickets in the pub at Victoria Coach Station whilst tucking into an all day vegetarian brunch and drinking a pint of Guinness zero. I had loved Brasov so much, I wanted to have gone to Iasi earlier that summer but was too sick. I really wanted to return to Bucharest, last year it was a WTA 125 which Miriam famously won and I was there for that special day so it had a symbolic meaning to me. This year it was replaced by a trio of W75s scattered across the Romanian summer. Both Miriam and Oana were scheduled to play. I had recently started a new job with a new financial year cut off, meaning my holidays had reset. Financially I was not in the best spot however I glossed over the flights for Bucharest as I often do in a day dream and just wondered what it would cost, to my surprise it was very cheap. I reasoned I had so much fun at Brasov with the Romanians and I longed to returned to Bucharest and watch not just Miriam play again but also Wolfy as it had been so special in Brasov.

As the flight was so cheap I tried to keep the budget low by booking into a hostel. The entry list was so exciting, not only were Oana and Miriam going to play, Gabi Lee, my other favourite player was on the list and so was Stefi Bojica who I had supported throughout Brasov. Sadly these two did not make it in the end. I knew Stefi had been struggling a lot with injury so it was probably for the best she did not play. I was gutted to not see Gabi ‘The Little Bear’ Lee, I have watched her live once before in Iasi last year which was so exciting and I really wanted to see her play live again especially as she has been playing so well this year. I arrived late night Saturday and taxied to my hostel. It was foul, you expect little for little but this really was foul, there was no breathing room, the breakfast was a joke, they insisted on deposits for towels and locker keys and then insisted on cash, I arrived late at night, I had no cash. I was allowed my towel eventually, I say towel in the loosest sense of the word, it was more of a flannel. That they needed a deposit for this tiny bit of material was an insult in itself. The other guests were also grossly unpleasant and had no concept of keeping quiet or respecting their room mates. I had very little sleep in that place. They say you get what you pay for but I do not recall paying minus money.

I somehow found it to the next morning and walked to the recently named Simona Halep National tennis centre. I had a couple of very exciting days of qualifying action. Miriam was in the main draw so I would not watch her until later in the week, however I did bump into her on the first day with her coach and she was so incredibly pleasant, she asked about how I was and my trip and told me if there was anything I needed I should tell her. This meant a lot, it was just me and Positivity Penguin this time as the trip was so spontaneous. And even though I was feeling a million times better than I did at the start of the year I was still not my old self especially with my fitness. I also met Oana and had a pleasant chat with her too.

My first match was Elena Teodora Cadar, Elena had helped me remotely with my Romanian instagram page and some of it’s projects but I had never met her in person before and I must say she truly is the most kindest of souls. Even though I get on well with a few of the Romanian players I am conscious of trying to give them mind space, especially before a match. I try not to interfere with any preparation they may have, however Elena noticed me waiting by the court and made a point of coming to say hello before her match. And during her match, which she won, I was cheering for her and she smiled back at me a few times, appreciating my support which was a lovely feeling. After her match, Positivity Penguin insisted on having his photo taken with Elena, and Elena in turn insisted on me being in the photo, I don’t usually like being in photos especially where my large belly is exposed but there was no escaping. Positivity Penguin was happy too, he has now had his picture taken with a lot of his favourite players; Gabi Lee, Miriam Bulgaru, Simona Waltert and Leonie Kung, ironically we still have not had a picture with Oana, and she is the player we have spent the most time with. I keep forgetting to ask and she is aware and does not remind me, I think she’s doing it on purpose so Positivity Penguin and I go to more of her tournaments. PP has also bumped into Anca Todoni a couple of times but we are a little too nervous about asking her!

Oana had a bye in the first round of qualifying and was pitted against Briana Szabo in the second round, a young player who I am most fond of. Not only is she proper handed she won a lot of respect and admiration from me following her super run in Brasov; in singles she reached the quarter finals from qualifying and won the doubles with Stefi Bojica. I was so impressed with her tennis and attitude that week I left Positivity Penguin with her to reward her for her efforts, one of the original PPs, I had another at home but Briana was gifted the one who spent the week with me and she deserved it. I did miss him a little on the flight home but knew he would be well looked after. Today Briana was sadly in the enemy camp; but as her father/coach said, ‘It happens’ many of the Romanians get on very well especially in Bucharest where the HQ is, yet occasionally they have to put each other out of tournaments. Oana was outstanding and did not let poor Briana up for air. I also watched Cristina Dinu in the late afternoon who had managed to gather quite the atmosphere from her supporters and fellow players. There had been Romanian whispers that Dinu had retired as she had not been on tour for a while, however the lure of playing at home was strong and it was lovely to see her there competing for what may be the last time. She lost to a young Romanian, Alesia Breaz who I have to say has just finished 2025 really strong, recently getting to a final at Antayala. It was sad to see the veteran fall but lovely to see her out there and fighting away. Another highlight of the first couple of days was Georgia Craciun, poor Georgia has been plagued by injuries this season. She was up against yet another young Romanian, Maia Burcescu, only 15 years old but one gifted little fighter, she has a special future. The match was in the early evening, Georgia was visibly in pain and heavily strapped, she dictated so many arduous points as the teenager pushed and pushed, it was long and physical, there was a medical timeout for Georgia, her body seemed to be inflicted with every conceivable inconvenience, yet she never gave up, never surrendered, she lost the match in the end but she was so brave. A few days after the tournament she had to have surgery which highlighted the agony she must have felt that evening. Elena Teodora Cadar also won in her next round of qualifying meaning both her and Oana were heading to the main draw which was lovely. I watched Elena in doubles too with her Romanian partner, Arina Vasilescu who were a great team.

There was so much going on in the first few days of the tournament as the qualifiers wrapped up and the main draw kicked off. I was able to get to see some of the impressive youngsters in action, the proper handers Eva Ionescu and Maria Sara Popa and also Elena ‘Berty’ Ruxandra Bertea, who is getting better by the day, she impressed me with her tennis in Brasov but it was her results week in week out which were speaking for themselves, Berty is very special and she is going places quickly. Of course the main draw unrolling meant Miriam was in action; the Little Champ was kind enough to let me sit courtside for her first round match. Her coach occupied the player chair on the left corner of the court and Positivity Penguin and I took up position on the corner on the opposite side and opposite end; which was good news for the Little Champ it meant she had support at both ends of the court which would of helped her. It was a routine win for the Little Champ against her opponent Ilay Yoruk. The first set very straight forward yet I felt Miriam was getting a little jittery in the second and perhaps impatient, it nearly got awkward when she surrendered her break advantage late in the second but avoided being sucked into a third by breaking again. Job done, 6-1 6-4, PP and I were very proud, she had a good attitude in the match, and was able to stay calm and calculated as she can be prone to the occasional Miri Meltdown, but she knows better than to kick off in front of the penguin which is why we try to go to as many of her matches as we can and we have a very impressive win percentage when we watch the Little Champ Live which will increase significantly next February when she wins the Transylvania Open. So we were pumped by Miriam’s win and very excited for Wolfy’s main draw match too, encouraged so much by Oana’s dominant and devastating tennis against young Briana in the previous round. Wolfy was playing her Brasov doubles partner Sapfo Sakellaridi, who I had spent time with her and her mother/coach in Brasov and her mother is lovely, she came rushing up to me the day before to say hello and I felt bad about the Wolf being set loose on her daughter, Oana keeps running into players who I like in this tournament! Where is Polina Kudermetova when you need her? However, I am the first person to tell Oana that on the court the opponents have no name, no ranking, no history, they are all ‘Player Two’ and Oana Simion is the only one who matters. The match sadly lasted for only three games, Sapfo retired with illness, as happy as I was that Oana was in the next round you never want to win like that and I went to Sapfo immediately after the match had finished to check she was okay and tell her I was sorry she had to retire. That said in the three games which Oana did play she looked so strong, she was continuing the great tennis she started against Briana the previous day, after the nerves and confidence crisis she suffered in Brasov this was a different Wolfy and it was delightful to see, I am sure she would have won that match regardless of the illness, I was so happy for her. Sadly Elena’s journey in singles ended but she put up a brave fight and had played some very good tennis in all three of the singles matches which she played.

So what did PP and I do when we were not watching tennis? Well we frequented Pescobar in Bucharest, proud sponsor of Miriam Bulgaru, and any friend or sponsor of the Little Champ is a friend of ours so we had an Octodog and Mint Lemonade at his lovely restaurant on the lake. It was an hour plus walk but we had time and needed the exercise. We went there twice if memory serves, the first time was the Octodog the second we took advantage of the lunch offers and had shrimp and rice. On both occasions we enjoyed the delicious the Seafood Soup, it really was sexy, PP’s favourite but he does have difficulty with the Oyster Shells. The waitress refused to accept the Mint Lemonade qualified as a soft drink as part of the lunch deal and charged extra, very disappointing, I should have worn my Miri T Shirt to remind them I was helping their boss’ player win another title in Bucharest. He was not about that day, lucky for her, she would be have probably been sacked on the spot, the main man, Paul Nicolau, never sits still, he is gradually taking over the world. He recently opened an Octopus Kebab in Camden Market at London in my country. It would be nice if he watched Miriam play a little more especially when she is playing in Romania, I have seen her live more than he has and I live in a different country. I always ask him when I am around and I hope he can join us in Cluj in February.

Bucharest was really split into two halves; it started as an outdoor clay court tournament but after two days of relentless rain the tournament was moved into an indoor hard court, this was not handled particularly well (more on this later) however back in my rathole of a hostel I had finally snapped. The straw that broke the camel’s back was that someone had stolen my tiny towel, I could not believe it!!! I had not slept too well anyway because of the noise and lack of comfort, I ordered an enormous pizza which was about two or three hours late being delivered and when I phoned them they could not speak any English, that was fun. On the subject of speaking Romanian, Miriam’s birthday was in a few days time and I wanted to do something special on my Romanian instagram page, I decided I would write a message, have it translated into Romanian, learn it and record it. I was organising this with Elena Teodora Cadar who kindly sent me a voice note of my Romanian message, I listened to it and it was like trying to learn a Shakespeare soliloquy, so I sat there eating my cold pizza and learning my Romanian speech, knowing I could not stay another night in that pit. I packed my bag that night and booked a hotel which was not too far from the tennis. That morning I stormed out, gave them my locker key and told them I was leaving early in a tone implying that it was all their fault and got an Uber to my new abode.

The hotel was lovely, the receptionist was incredibly friendly, she told me the room was not ready yet but I could stay and have breakfast and they got the room ready for me within the hour. However the weather got worse. I did go back to the Romanian HQ a couple of times hoping in vain there would be some play. I must say Miriam and Oana were so lovely to me, they invited me inside out of the cold and rain and took me to the players area, Oana made me a coffee and Miriam gave me a bottle of water, she’s often giving me bottles of water, I think it’s her little way of telling me to lose weight. Arina was giving blood on her day off to help a friend, I had offered but was not able to get there before they closed, the thought was there though. Once it had become clear that there would be no further action that day and on Oana’s recommendation PP and I travelled into Bucharest to visit the museum and have a nice pizza and non alcoholic lager in town.

So, two days of hideous rain, relentless rain, the issue comes that it was forecast, and even though forecasts are not always gospel it was clear by Thursday that there was no chance of play on Friday, even if the rain stopped for half an hour with the amount of water the courts had taken in there was just no chance. For me by Thursday the decision to play indoors should have been made yet there was a further delay of an extra day. Furthermore, when play commenced at the new venue it started at midday, this was insane, as 50 per cent of those players had to play twice, the last quarter final was still being played gone 9pm. The organisation and uncertainty added a lot of unnecessary stress upon those poor players, and do not forget they had to change surfaces too, many would not have had the right shoes with them as they would have packed for clay courts. But on to the tennis, I am yet to mention Oana’s wonderful father who I also met in Brasov, such a charming and friendly man, despite a clear language barrier it was lovely to be in his company when watching his daughter, he went to every match. Oana was kind enough to drive PP and I and her father to the new venue. I have to say after a week of fearing for my life in Ubers it was the smoothest ride in a car I have had in years, Oana is not just fabulous tennis player but a great driver too.

Oana was up first on ‘Bucharest Part Two – Invasion of the Hard Courts’ she had the top seed Arantxa Rus who is a decent proper handed player, it was never going to be an easy assignment however the Wolf gave a strong account of herself yet a lapse late on cost her the first set and she was not able to start the second in the strong manner required to forge a competitive match and it quickly slipped away from her. All in all, it had been a decent week for Oana and I was very proud of her, Rus was always going to be very hard, I wished Oana had had that little bit of belief to force the issue more in set two but that’s tennis it’s such a mental game, it’s so hard to keep both feet on the surfboard and one big splash and you are being circled by shark fins.

Maria Sara Popa was next up, I think of all the young Romanian players MSP is the one I admire and respect the most. Proper handed and such a hard working, aggressive player with a super forehand. I feel for her as she burst into limelight at such a young age, her emergence coincided with Anca Todoni who has developed into a world class player however despite some early success it has taken Maria a little longer to adapt. She had a strong year in 2024 which tailed off rapidly towards the end and she hit a very bad run of form which continued into the start of this year. You can tell she really feels the pressure of expectation. She has worked so hard this year to turn her fortunes around and has managed to get more regular wins and even when she has lost she has done so in epic battles, often losing in 3 hours in a final set. Her opponent was Sada Nahimana, a real box of tricks and variety. Maria never really settled into a rhythm against her, it was simply a bad match up. Sada had also taken down another of our young Proper Handers, Eva Ionescu in the previous round who equally could not come up with any answers. I really did not feel MSP did too much wrong in the 6-4 6-0 defeat, as often in Romanian tournaments she had the whole family with her and her father and coach leading the entourage. Her father is devoted to Maria this is always clear yet sometimes their exchanges are quite intense, during this match he was sarcastically clapping Maria, watching on I felt this was a little too much, I did not say anything to him because he’s quite big!! However it was sad to see young Maria fall and so shortly after the Wolf, watching these intimate tournaments in Romania, there really is a family feeling amongst the Romanians, I felt it in Brasov but more so in Bucharest because that’s the beating heart of Romanian tennis, as the tournament goes deeper and we start losing these players it feels empty. Later that day I said goodbye to Oana, it was so hard, harder than Brasov this time, if I was going home too it would be fine but staying behind as that player field rapidly shrinks is tough going, thank God the Little Champ was playing next!!!

Miriam had yet another of our rising Romanian stars, Bianca Barbulescu, I watched Bianca’s previous round and was really impressed by her resolve. However the Little Champ had far too much for her, Bianca stuck in as best she could but could not finish the points off. Miri polished her off in a 6-3 6-2 routine win, Miriam seems to like playing the Romanian youngsters having recently demolished Maria Sara Popa in an earlier tournament. I would really like to see how she measures up against the rapidly improving Berty, that would have been the dream final for me. However Miriam’s path came to a halt later that day losing to the eventual champion, Camilla Rosatello. It was a frustrating 2-6 4-6 defeat, mainly frustrating because Miriam posted a couple of excellent service holds but lacked consistency throughout the match, I felt she was understandably tired, accepting it was the same situation for all players but it does not make it any less pleasant, these are humans at the end of the day as many people forget. I did not see Miriam again after she lost not that I ever know what to say to her when she loses. I shuffled off to watch Elena and Arina in the doubles, and the lost too. What a shit day all round.

While this article is predominantly about Oana and Miriam who both lost on the penultimate day how can I not talk about the brilliant Berty? And as the last Romanian remaining she was the saviour of my final day in Bucharest.

Before Miriam’s defeat I saw the end of Berty’s second round match against the impressive Maia Burcescu, who I mentioned earlier, the talented 15 year old who knocked out Georgia Craciun. It was as close as they come with two tiebreak sets both won by Berty, Maia was crying when she left the court, she clearly understood how good Berty is and how close she was, I will say writing this a few months later Maia has been exceptional since this tournament and is still so very young, she has all the time in the world and I believe she can look forward to a fabulous career. Berty rounded off her Saturday by defeating Mia Ristic in straight sets in the quarter finals, now she’s a decent player.

The finals day was of course all about Berty, she had to play a semi final and if she won that a final after. So we were guaranteed a Romanian in the first match of the last day. There was also home interest in the doubles, I mentioned Sapfo Sakellaridi earlier who Wolfy defeated in the first round of the main draw, she was paired up with Oana Gavirila, I’m a big fan of Oana’s she had a horrendous injury a year previous and has only just recently returned to tour after months of rehab. It is lovely to see her back, whilst she is still building back on the singles side, her doubles has been something else, and I was lucky enough to watch their final in-between Berty’s two matches, they defeated a strong pairing of Arantxa Rus and Mara Gae in the final. Truth be told on the doubles side I had been supporting Arina and Elena all week and would have longed to see them go all the way but it was lovely to see Oana and Sapfo win especially as I am fond of the Sakellaridis and big fan of Oana’s too.

Back to Berty, two magnificent efforts on the last day, she beat Rus 1-6 7-6 6-4 and an hour or two later had to play Rosatello a three set thriller losing 7-5 3-6 4-6, it was so close and she gave everything. I could tell she was so disappointed that she did not win, this was a W75, not many people would have put in the final of one of these events so soon, and remember the rain, the double matches, the changes of court surfaces, everything this young woman had to face and with very little experience on tour too. I was courtside for Berty’s final two matches, she invested all she had into every point, she showed true champion’s mentality, and remember her opponent did beat the Little Champ so it was never going to be easy!

I went to Bucharest for Oana and Miriam and would go there again tomorrow for them if I could but I left very, very proud of Berty. I support all Romanians and I do have my favourites but my devotion is measured by effort and the effort from Berty was supreme in Bucharest she has won my respect and my support and dedication towards her will be strong for the rest of her career, she has earned a very proud fan. Congratulations Champ and Merry Christmas.