The women’s game is a roaring success in Romania and the US Open winner is seen as one of their own by players and fans
Last Sunday afternoon in Cluj-Napoca, the final day before new Covid-19 restrictions forced the Transylvania Open’s sold-out sessions to be played behind closed doors, Emma Raducanu and a group of Romanian players bade farewell to the crowd with individual, emotional speeches. As the players cheered each other on, it was the first indication of how enthusiastically Raducanu has been welcomed into the Romanian tennis fold.
Raducanu’s US Open victory generated intense media coverage and her paternal Romanian roots were an immediate source of pride for many, but in some spheres also led to a debate over her identity: “As well as Bianca Andreescu’s case, it was on social media,” says Adrian Toca, founder of Romanian tennis publication Treizecizero. “All this talk, that talk. Some people were saying: ‘Why should we root for her? She’s not Romanian.’ Others that she has Romanian origins.”