Bobby Backhands

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  • Sorana’s Swansong – The French Pink Panther

    It’s the second major of the Year for our Champ and she kicks off against the French 17 year old Wild Card, Ksenia Efremov. Final match of the day on the second show court and it is nearly 9pm local time when Sorana takes to the stage… ‘BAAAA BA BABA BAAAA BA BAAAA BABA’ ‘Oleeeeee!’…

  • Sorana’s Swansong May – The Italian Job

    So on to Madrid, hoping our Champ has healed. She has a Bye which gives her extra recovery time from that sad Rouen withdraw and she had a lovely draw against an 18 year old Italian, Tryra Grant, she is ranked over 200 places lower than Sorana but has recently won an ITF title. She…

  • Sorana’s Swansong April – From Austria with Love

    We next find our Champ on the Clay Court Swing. She plays the WTA 500, indoor Clay courts of Linz in Austria. And the first match is a 23 year old Austrian Wild Card, Sinja Kraus, lots of spirit and a good clay court player, she had her moments and hit a few wonderful winners…

  • Sorana’s Swansong March – Sunshine Smile in the Sunshine Double

    After a well deserved rest Sorana returned to the tour for the so-called ‘Sunshine Double’ the combined 1000 series events in North America, Indian Wells and Miami. Her first match which was against German veteran, Tatjana Maria, who loves a single handed slice backhand sadly fell on my work shift, therefore I could not watch…

  • Sorana’s Swansong February Part Two – Home From Home

    After a deserved rest, the newly crowned Transylvania Open Champion continued her Swansong Tour with the next stop at Dubai, Sorana’s permanent place of residence for the last five years and a Happy Hunting Ground! Our Champ is a former quarter finalist at the WTA 1000 tournament here. In the first round she faced a…

  • Sorana’s Swansong February Part One – Our Trip to Cluj

    Cluj Napoca was the next destination on the Cirstea farewell voyage. The home WTA 250 which Sori has played two times previously yet not yet tasted victory on the indoor purple hardcourts. I am in Cluj with a couple of friends and Postivity Penguin. For me also it is visit number three to the tournament…

  • Sorana’s Swansong – January

    January is often a favourite time of year for me in my capacity as a Tennis fan, I have been to Melbourne for the Australian Open once, way back in 2010 and it is my favourite of the Majors. Ever since, back in the UK I have often woken up in the small hours to…

  • My Romanian Summer with the Wolf – Part Two Bucharest

    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…

  • My Romanian Summer with the Wolf Part One Brasov

    Why it’s easy to support Oana Simion! Whilst my love of tennis extends back to Pete Sampras and Justin Henin, then later of course Roger Federer and Simona Halep, the latter opening me up to the world of Romanian tennis stars, one player has influenced and inspired me personally more than any other, Romania’s Oana…

  • Tears and Tennis.

    THE EMOTIONS OF A FAN. When Miriam Bulgaru won her semi final yesterday I cried. Because she is my joint favourite active player and I was so happy for her. The two players who always felt all the emotions for were Roger Federer and Simona Halep. Both now retired and tennis feels empty without them.…