[Feb 3, 2023] I am in the Bucharest Airport, a second home for me and for all the Romanian professional tennis players. We are flying almost every week to different places around the world to play in tournaments, to fulfill our small goals which are leading – or at least we are fighting for that, to reach what is every player’s dream: to play in a Grand Slam tournament. It has been my dream too, ever since the first day I entered the tennis court. Some players reached it sooner, others later.
I am still among those chasing this dream on the court and, for that matter, through airports all around the world. Everyone’s path is different, as we hear it every time from those around us.

So, in these lines and in the ones that will follow, I want to tell my story, Oana Simion, player in the ITF circuit for almost 10 years now (441 WTA singles ranking, former leader of the ITF ranking).

It’s my story, but in many ways, it is that of my colleagues too.

These days I’m playing in two W25 tournaments in Antalya, where I’m in the qualifying draw at both. At the beginning of this year, the tournaments are tougher for me, because with my ranking I can’t directly enter the main draw (in these tournaments the last directly accepted is 380 WTA), so I will play three qualifying rounds.

I expect conditions to be challenging.
During this time of the year, the weather in Antalya is cool and rainy, the courts become hard and so do the balls. At this level, and not only, it is very important to adapt to the conditions of each tournament, and from my experience, I know how much of a difference physical, technical, tactical, and mental parts, make, because of the complexity of this sport.

This is the fourth season when I’m playing here. I choose Antalya because the tournaments are on clay – the surface where I feel the most comfortable on and it is quite easy to get to – with only a stopover in Istanbul, and the prices are affordable – plane tickets, accommodation and meals, transport from the airport to the hotel and hotel-club-hotel.

I get very often questions like these: “Do you pay for everything?”, “How much money do you support yourself?”, “Do you earn money at this level?”

I will explain later how a player ranked beyond the 400th WTA ranking earns her living. I know quite a lot about this matter because I was there for 6 years.

Until then, I will tell the story about my beginnings in tennis so you can get to know me better.

I started playing tennis in Piatra Neamţ, with coach Petru Iftimie, at the age of 5. Ever since, I have been in love with this sport and probably that passion has brought me to this point.
From the age of 8, I was part of the national team (the first 8 players of the country), but I was never the first, second or third in my age category, that’s why I didn’t participate in the European championships.
When I was 10 years old, my parents decided to move to Bucharest so that I could have a better future. Here is where the adventure began. I combined school with tennis, winning prizes at school in all grades. I participated in national and international tournaments, I reached the 152nd place in ITF Juniors at the age of 16, winning a J5 tournament in Greece and reaching the finals at J3 in Uzbekistan.

These were my best junior results and they do not reflect any precocity or a very promising talent.

But passion and ambition made me continue. At 17, I started playing ITF senior tournaments in Romania. In those years, about 10-12 tournaments of this kind were organized during the summer in our country. I made my first semi-final in a $10,000 tournament at the age of 17, and after that, I knew I wanted to play on the pro circuit and see where I could go. At that time, I didn’t know exactly what professional tennis meant, but I had Sorana Cîrstea – who reached the top 100 at the age of 18, as a model.

My goal was to follow in her footsteps…