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!’…

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…

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…

With the exit of all the Romanians in singles and the Doubles Final with Stefi and Briana later in the day we took the free time to Uber to Bran and visit Dracula’s Castle. The drive was pleasant and very scenic, should I return next year as I hope to do I would like to…

The trip is a starting to near an end, the beard is at a point where it is becoming itchy. Whereas the previous mornings I got up early for Oana’s practices with her defeat in singles it was a later start in doubles, I was afforded the luxury of a lie in. Not that the…

Same routine as before early walk into town, picked up some cheese pretzels for breakfast and then onto Starbucks for coffee. Met the Wolf for practice at the club ahead of her second round match which her parents had attended for. Sadly Oana’s match was poor, a couple of missed smashes at the net got…

Today was an earlier start, leaving the Guest House at 7am and walking to town as the sun rose over Brasov, a pleasant stroll with Postivity Penguin through the streets and parks. It was cooler today which was handy as having left my jumper on top of the coffee machine the past couple of days,…

So my sincere apologies in advance for most of today finds me complaining about my eye. Suncream has seeped in on a hot day and it’s very painful. Only at 2250 now is it starting to heal. We again walked to the club this time via Meron for Breakfast where the four cheese sandwiches were…

The travel from Bristol to Brasov was a day and a night, lengthened by the bloody Flixbus moving bus stops and making us miss it, forcing us to catch another coach to Heathrow and an Uber to Luton for a lot more money then we had hoped to spend. My party is Postivity Penguin and…

So comes the final day of Wimbledon qualifying. Slept reasonably well but the body is still very fatigued, truth be told I considered leaving early but I decided to stay the course. I checked out of the hostel as the tight buggers charged me for a locker for my bag and coat. Similar routine to…