Since the last “Court Chronicles” article I have played five more tournaments: the National Individual Championships and four more on the ITF tour.
A series of tournaments where I ran into different complicated situations that we can call adversities – a term that is used more and more in sports psychology. I overcame some of them, others not, as I will unfold right now.
I didn’t hesitate when I agreed to play the Individual National Championships, because lately I noticed that FRT (The Romanian Tennis Federation) is much more involved and efficient in the local tennis, so I felt an increased responsibility, in my capacity, as a component of this system. On the other hand, I didn’t have any Women’s National Title in my record and the moment seemed favorable to get one.
I got into the tournament with the confidence given by the two intense weeks of preparation and with the desire to put into official matches, the few improvements in my game that I had worked on, together with my coach, Will Birău.
In the first match I had a difficult time because the improvements which I worked on hadn’t automatically entered my game system, meaning I wasn’t running them naturally yet. An adversity that I overcame with a lot of focus and self encouragement. In the following matches, the automatisms became factual, the information had already settled better in the subconscious.
Improvements or changes in a tennis player’s technique take time because they must first be implemented in practice, through feeding balls, drills, rallies , then playing points, in order to fulfill correctly the tasks in the official matches.
And like that I made it much easier to the finals. I was expecting it to be a tough day as rain was expected in the forecast. And tough it was. The match was not only postponed six hours, but its location also changed, moving from Slobozia to Bucharest, moreover, from outdoor to indoor. I managed to adapt to these changes, and after a close match, I became the national singles champion. In a few hours, I also became national mixed doubles champion, alongside the young Alexandru Coman, finishing the day – at 11.00 pm – with two titles.
A new unexpected situation, to which I reacted well and over which I handled with the confidence given by the victories.
Because no matter how much you prepare and practice mentally, the best psychotherapy is winning.
The fact that it was not the toughest draw did not rob me the joy of the first National Champion titles at 28 years old.
The fact that I played at home helped me to overcome the adversities mentioned above.
As soon as I finished the finals at the National Championships, I decided to travel the next day to Sardinia for two consecutive W35 tournaments in Sardinia, where I played directly on the main draw in the first one.
On Monday I started – alone – a 12-hours journey, and late in the evening I was already in another venue.
I entered the court with an awkward feeling. It was the first tournament I was playing outside the country for a while and there was no one to support me. I had been through this strange and slightly unpleasant experience before. I knew the feeling of loneliness, but this time I felt it more accentuated.
These weren’t two very bad tournaments, but by no means good: I won one match in each one (at the second one, I played on the qualifying draw).
The one I lost in the first tournament was against a player from Australia after a series of adversities that I did not overcome until the end: the match in the first round started 4 hours late because of the rain, then it was moved to a different court than originally scheduled, it was stopped at 6-6 due to darkness and resumed the next morning. After eventually winning it, I started the next one after an hour and a half break.
Later, the player who beat me reached the WTA 125 Cali semifinals in three weeks, where she lost to Irina Begu.
I immediately regrouped and the next day I left for Padua, where I was going to play for my soul team, in the Italian first league, A1. The match was going to take place on a difficult surface for me, indoor hardcourt, but after the first practice, I felt that I was at ease, stronger than before. Maybe also because I was with my teammates, coaches, in the stimulative atmosphere of team matches.
And this good mental state helped me to come close to a point for the most precious victory – counting the ranking of the opponent – on this surface.
But, again I did not manage to overcome the adversity – which lately I keep on self-inflicting – that of not making the best decisions when leading higher ranked players and especially not converting the essential points. Thus, I missed a match ball. I probably have the most work to do on this matter.
I managed a revival for the doubles match, which I won 7-6, 7-6.
Anyway, I want to congratulate the TC Padova team – players, coaches and sponsors, the manager Umberto Bressan and the president Alberto Bressan – for the historic result they achieved this year, the qualification in the top four teams of the Italian championship.
A three-week practice period with my team followed. I worked on several levels: physical, technical, tactical, mental, to which I added the recovery, which I give a lot of importance to lately [videos at the bottom of the article].
In the last of the three weeks, I was happy to help the Romanian Billie Jean King Cup team: I was invited to practice with Monica Niculescu and Gabriela Ruse, in doubles. The practices with my valuable colleagues were useful, because I improved my game at the net.
After the end of the season, together with them, I checked another episode from the chapter “Friendship on the Tour“, because we went together to the concert of the Norwegian DJ, Kygo, which took place in Amsterdam.
Going back in time, after Sardinia and the weeks of preparation at home I decided to play two more W15 tournaments in Heraklion. Here I made a quarter and a semi-final. Not too much, taking into account the categories of the tournaments and the goals I had set for myself.
Again I ran into some adversities:
– difficult opponents on both draws: I lost in front of two Greek players, who were in excellent form
– a personal problem, because we, the players, are also human beings and, unfortunately, personal relationships often suffer on the tour. This problem was one of the causes of the defeat in the first tournament, where Sapfo Sakkelaridi came back in the first set, after I had a consistent lead.
I want to be very clear and those who have followed the blog from the beginning know that I’m not looking for excuses, I just want to present to you what we have to go through in order to perform.
It depends on each one how she or he handles it. Like Coco Gauff said, there are times when things don’t go as you would like, and then you have to stay focused and believe in yourself even if it seems impossible.
Anyway, I am satisfied at the end of this year, counting the fact that at the beginning of the season I came back with difficulty after two serious injuries. I have tied some good results and, above all, my tennis is better than before the forced breaks.
But the season is not over for me: I am now writing from Sweden, where I will be playing in the team championships, so that I can financially support the start of the 2025 season.
