Fairytale Finish
Sorana Cirstea, winning like never before in her final year on tour, discusses how she found her peace despite perfectionism.
As I await my transatlantic flight, I’m delighted to be able to share with Bounces readers a recent interview I did with a woman who is currently shining brighter than she ever has in her decades-long career.
Sorana Cirstea, who announced at the beginning of this season that it would be her final year on tour, scored the biggest win of her career on Saturday, beating No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the third round of ATP-WTA 1000 Rome.
The result raised questions about Sabalenka’s status as the clear favorite in women’s tennis, for sure—she took an injury timeout in the third set of what was her earliest loss at any tournament in more than a year.
But Cirstea, who trailed by a set and 0-2 before turning the match in her favor, has also become a considerable story of her own. By beating Sabalenka, the 36-year-old became the oldest-ever player to score a first win over a WTA No. 1.
It’s the latest happy-ending feeling in Cirstea’s fairytale season. With this run in Rome adding to an already strong start, Cirstea is currently 14th in the WTA’s live year-to-date Race rankings. Considering Cirstea’s career-high ranking of 21st came nearly 13 years ago, this is a considerably turbo-boosted pace for the home stretch of her long career.
As well as her win over Sabalenka, Cirstea also won WTA 250 Cluj-Napoca, aka the Transylvania Open, the biggest tournament in her home country of Romania.
In an interview a few weeks ago in Miami, Cirstea and I discussed the perspective that she says has helped her find peace through the perfectionism that kept her feeling never-good-enough for years.
We also discussed the importance of being able to play at home and of having small tournaments on the schedule—Cirstea is not a fan of these extended two-week 1000-level events, to say the least.
“They are killing the tour.” —Sorana Cirstea on two-week 1000-level events.
I also asked her about her decision to withdraw her name from the PTPA earlier this year; Bounces subscribers will see how she wanted to handle that topic, too.
To read the full interview, please become a paid subscriber to Bounces! -Ben
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