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Romania – Sweden, Davis Cup Day 3

Posted on September 14, 2014 by Diana

Adi Ungur vs Elias Ymer

Day 3 announced itself very exciting from the first hours of the morning. First match could be a winning ticket for us to stay in Group 1 or a chance to take the match further for our guests. At 11:30 Adrian Ungur made his way on court against Elias Ymer. People started cheering but the first games of the first set left the Romanian crowd bewildered and gave way to Swedish cheering. A few minutes into the match, 5-0 for Sweden, and I was already analyzing the odds of a decisive match between Marius Copil and Christian Lindell. Adi seemed lost and Elias was hitting every point with the confidence of the player who has nothing to loose. And he was doing it very well. Yet, at a certain point something happened with Adi and the public felt it. And we stated cheering. Even if he lost the first set 3-6, Adrian managed to pull himself together and for the next 3 sets he showed everybody what he is capable of. Somewhere around there our cheering gave Adi wings and cut off the ones Elias worked so hard for. At the end of a tight match, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (9), 6-3, the Romanian team won 3-1. Elias left the court sad but people cheered for him. And we did it honestly, the match today was beautiful. Behind him our team and staff displayed the Romanian flag. Shortly after it was announced that the final match was canceled. A bit disappointing for the tennis fans who would have loved seeing another match, even if it had been a short one (2 out of 3 sets) because it’s going to take a while until we will have the opportunity to watch some live tennis again.

Team Romania

The organizers and sponsors offered fans the chance to get autographs from Horia and Florin, our beloved doubles team, so people lined up and waited patiently to get a signed poster and photo. It was the perfect time to grab a drink and relax in the tennis park. Soon the crowds left and in the peace and quiet from around the arena we amused ourselves with all the great tennis memories this year brought to us and with Horia being chased by cameras and journalists eager for an interview or two or more. Drinks were soon over and it was time to go home.

I haven’t been to the tennis arena in September since the ATP event was played in Autumn. Last edition was in 2011. It is really beautiful, plus,the grounds are an oasis of silence in a very crowded and dusty city.

I had friends asking me which team I am going to cheer for this week-end. I guess the answer is obvious, I like our boys and I am a fan of our Davis Cup team from back when Andrei Pavel, currently captain, was leading the team in the World Group. But I have a great deal of respect and admiration for the Swedish team. I hope they liked it here, I was more than happy to see them play.

With these being said we are now getting ready for the last part of the ATP calendar and for the Davis Cup final between France and Switzerland. It’s gonna be confusing if the audience shouts only “Allez!”.

Posted in English, Tennis | Tagged Adrian Ungur, Arenele BNR, Christian Lindell, Davis Cup, Elias Ymer, Florin Mergea, Horia Tecau, Marius Copil, tennis | Leave a comment

Davis Cup: Doubles Time

Posted on September 13, 2014 by Diana

My favorite part of a Davis Cup tie is the doubles match on Saturday. No, this is not because of Horia at all… This time it was because our team was made of Horia and Florin, one of the best teams Romania ever had, junior champions in Wimbledon, and pretty good players in the ATP doubles tour ( Horia is a mixed doubles Grand Slam champion, 3 times Wimbledon finalist and Florin is a semifinalist in Roland Garros). But my interest in doubles came in a time when Horia was the only Romanian tennis player winning tournaments and bringing back the crowd to the ATP event held in Bucharest.

Mergea/Tecau vs Ardvisson/Brunstrom

I made sure I get to the tennis arena on time in order to see the team presentations. We cheered for our guests, we seemed happy to have them here. At least I was. My biggest regret was not being able to see the team Brunstrom/Lindstedt in action, that would have offered a high class tennis match. However the match today showed some very good quality tennis. The Swedish team (Isak Ardvisson/Johan Brunstrom) managed to break service at the beginning of the first two sets but our boys (Florin Mergea/Horia Tecau) managed to fight back. It took a while for Horia to get into the match and in the first set his first service betrayed him a bit. This can be very scary for a supporter but there is not much you can do, just cheep cheering. The other half of our team had a better start with a bit of a downfall at a certain point in the second set when Horia was very much into the match already. Our boys truly worked as a team, it was amazing how they kept running from one part of the court to the other and covered everything up. It is so clear that they have a lot of experience in playing together, their communication is sometimes flawless. I think they should team up in the ATP tournaments as well, they would be a very strong team.

Mergea/Tecau vs Ardvisson/Brunstrom

On the other side of the net I enjoyed watching Johan Brunstrom. His experience as a doubles specialist is obvious, he is a strong server and managed some subtle hits that you only see in doubles matches. Isak is the kind of player that intensely lives every point and jumps up and down hoping that his shot will be inside. It doesn’t always help but that was sweet.

On the whole the Swedes were betrayed by their service, if we were to judge by the fact that they lost two tie breaks where every service is very precious. They were also probably brought down by the more numerous and loud Romanian crowd. I hope we weren’t too rude, loud we were, that is for sure. At a certain point the leader of the supporters was the team captain Andrei Pavel. We like him a lot. Florin Mergea was probably the best player on the court today. The match itself was very tight with two first sets that were very long and could have been taken by any team. The third set was dominated by our boys and the doubles point went to Romania: 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-3.

Team presentations & retirement ceremony

As a bonus, not related to the tie though, the opening ceremony of today’s match was marked by Victor Hanescu’s retirement ceremony from the Davis Cup team. He was awarded by the ITF and FRT. We are going to miss him, the 13 years spent as a part of the team were amazing. I saw him live for the first time in 2003 in our match against France. Thank you Victor!

Posted in English, Tennis | Tagged Arenele BNR, Florin Mergea, Horia Tecau, Isak Ardvisson, Johan Brunstrom, tennis | Leave a comment

Romania – Sweden, Davis Cup Day 1

Posted on September 13, 2014 by Diana

Summary

I have been waiting for this match since forever! I will never forget 2009 and the matches I saw on TV (SWE def ROM 3-2). So now I am very happy to see the Swedes (Elias Ymer, Christian Lindell, Isak Ardvisson, Johan Brunstrom) playing in Bucharest. This past week was a countdown to Friday, tennis was all I had on my mind. I bought my ticket weeks ago, this is an event I couldn’t have missed. I kept reading a lot of things about the matches to come and everybody was saying that Romania is by far favorite in winning because our level is far above Sweden. Don’t want to be mean or to give the impression that I do not trust our boys but I know the Swedes a bit, I’ve seen them playing. Add to that the fact that rankings don’t really matter in the Davis Cup matches and that most players feel very motivated by playing for their country and here you have a perfect reason to take it seriously. As it should be. Even with Sweden’s best player, Robert Lindstedt, absent due to injury.

Ungur vs Lindell

So here I was yesterday morning hopping happily to my favorite place in Bucharest: Arenele BNR. First match confirmed my fears a bit: it was not going to be so easy to win. Though Adrian Ungur took the lead in every set, Christian Lindell kept fighting and managed to win the match in 3 sets: 7-5, 7-6 (2), 6-4. I liked watching him play, he has a strong service and a lot of power in his returns. It was also his first match in Sweden’s team and he did quite a good job. He’d do an even better job if he put all his strong forehand hits on the right part of the lines. He also had on the other side of the net a player who didn’t manage to keep himself together and, even if he hit some really spectacular drop shots, Adi was far away from the level he showed in other matches he played for the team. He had to bow to his opponent and give one point to Sweden. In the meantime the rest of Sweden’s team & staff were taking over the arena, they were cheering loudly and constantly, a truly supporting crowd that overtook the Romanian fans.

Copil vs Ymer

The second match was not as balanced. Our guests sent on court young Elias Ymer who had a spectacular journey this past year. He even won an ITF event in Romania, more precisely in Bacau on June 1st. Our player was Marius Copil. I’ve seen Marius playing some brilliant tennis a few times, I also saw him lose matches without realizing what is going on. Happily, yesterday his game was amazing, great service, lots of courage and confidence. I believe hard work, training, support from the team captain and the audience helped a lot. When he doesn’t lose his temper and starts getting angry and frustrated, he plays really nice and it’s lovely to see him at work. The Swedish crowd got a little bit more silent and we became louder and louder. At the end of the day the score was 1 all, Marius won 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.

I guess it was not exactly what most people were expecting but it was quite a fair result given the tennis that was played yesterday on the central court. But with 3 more matches to go anything can happen. Next story is about the double’s match, my favorite part of the Davis Cup tie. Will go into details about it in the next post.

Posted in English, Tennis | Tagged Adrian Ungur, Arenele BNR, Christian Lindell, Davis Cup, Elias Ymer, Marius Copil, tennis | Leave a comment

Week-end in Vama Veche

Posted on September 5, 2014 by Diana

One of my favorite things ever is to sit on the beach with a cup of coffee, a good book and good music. As a welcome gift for returning to Vama Veche after two years I got an hour full of Led Zeppelin which couldn’t have been better. I also like going to the seaside at the end of Summer just because it’s not as crowded, it’s not too hot and, I have to say it, it’s less expensive. And the way the sun shines is absolutely beautiful.

So after a week of work and half a night of freezing somewhere at a beach bar, day 1 started in the most pleasant way: the best omelet sandwich ever, a hot cup of coffee and the so very amazing atmosphere created by Led Zeppelin. Add to that a bright sunny day with clouds in the most creative shapes ever, a very angry and beautiful sea and great friends to have around. Other favorite things to listen to on the beach: The Doors, Pink Floyd, The Cranberries and lots of jazz. Chilling has never been done in a better way.

Vama Veche is not exactly what it has been a few years ago, but it’s a nice village-resort and you can still catch a glimpse of its charm if you know when to go there (June, end of August, September), where to eat (Soni, Cherhana, Bibi or right on the beach), what beach bars to visit (Stuff, Expirat, lots of other options) and what places to avoid (everything sophisticated and some dark corners). I strongly recommend going there but if this happens for the first time go with someone who knows what is what. As bohemian as it can sometimes be (though hippies and rockers are a rare sight these days, unfortunately), it’s possible to get into trouble as well.

And if you get there and you need a break from sitting on the beach, to be understood you get hungry, try eating at a place where you can play with your feet in the sand, watch the sea while waiting for your food and try the fish caught and cooked by the fishermen themselves. And the wine, the grilled veggies, the Bulgarian peach nectar and eventually, if the waiter forgets to bill you for something, please pay him anyway, like we did when he forgot to put the nectar on our bill. Then walk slowly back to the beach and enjoy the sun.

In the evening you can choose from several beach bars where you can dance on the sand, sit and chat over a beer, or even better sit on the sunbeds on the beach, enjoy a glass of wine and watch the shooting stars. We were a bit lucky this year and, except the first night when it was really cold, the rest of the nights were quite warm and sitting on the beach was fun. And when you head back to your room do not forget to stop and grab a pancake with rum, stuffed in half a cantaloup.

And when it’s time to go home promise yourself that you are going to return there soon.

Posted in Away, Day to Day, English | Tagged cherhana, sea, seashore, vama veche | Leave a comment

Mystery Case File

Posted on August 22, 2014 by Diana

I like my country, don’t get me wrong but in this moment right now I wish I moved on the other side of the planet!!! So, for the record, I live and work in Bucharest, a different city than what is stated as my home in my papers, and I had what is called a temporary change of residence, and will get one again soon, mainly to be able to have medical services where I live and not to travel 400 km to my home town if I need a prescription.

I’ve been back at work for over two months now and I still can’t visit a doctor without paying lots of money because, even though I pay my taxes which include medical services, I am listed as uninsured. So I pay for some services I can’t benefit from. I kept talking to all institutions (my company where I work, health services and taxes) and they all keep blaming someone else and give me the impression that this someone else is me. My employee has included me in the list of tax-paying persons but health services doesn’t see me in their data base because something got blocked at the financial institution.

Health services said: we can fix this, fill in a form, get a refusal of treatment from your doctor and prove that you have been insured in the last 5 years and we fix it in 48 hours. For that you need to pay a fee at the financial institution here in Bucharest.

The financial institution in Bucharest said I can only pay if my permanent residence is here, otherwise…

The financial institution at home says: it is illegal to pay your health tax in another city than where you have your ID address. Then they changed their mind and said that if I have temporary residence somewhere else I can have a doctor somewhere else as well…

But no one told me where I can pay the fee to get my rights back because well… No one knows. If I pay at home the money goes to an account that doesn’t help, cause my doctor is in Bucharest so I have to pay in Bucharest but I can’t cause it is not possible.

How to solve this problem seems to be a real mystery.

Posted in Day to Day, English | Leave a comment