Mentor Tiriac knew sensational Simona had a Nastase side
ROMANIA’S richest man Ion Tiriac was in full flow on the Wimbledon players’ lawn when, 10 minutes after leaving Centre Court, Simona Halep bounded up to give him a hug.
‘I lived it with (Boris) Becker, lived it with (Goran) Ivanisevic and lived it again today,’ Tiriac had been saying before he was interrupted.
The moustachioed billionaire entrepreneur, former Davis Cup player and head of Romanian tennis, was a mentor and manager to those two past men’s champions and had now sat through another victorious final.
This was perhaps the most emotional, Halep being a compatriot in a tight-knit world.
‘I always thought she could win. I told her if she could move Serena from the first ball, she had a chance, otherwise she gets all over you if you let her,’ said Tiriac, now 80.
‘I don’t know a woman who runs as fast as Halep. Sometimes she doesn’t move well. She did today.’
Nobody could argue with her speed after the phenomenal display that took down Serena Williams. He also testified to Halep’s character.
He said: ‘She’s the sweetest person you can meet. And she is a very loyal person.’
Romanian tennis’s most famous (or infamous) figure, Ilie Nastase, would agree.
Among Tiriac’s portfolio is his ownership of the Madrid Open, which Halep won in 2017. It came in the wake of the controversial Fed Cup match against Great Britain, in which Nastase captained Romania and was kicked out after inappropriate tirades.
Tiriac defied furious WTA Tour officials by inviting Nastase to present the trophy, as did Halep by publicly accepting it from him.
‘Ilie, thank you for coming and supporting me,’ she said for good measure. Notably, she refused to join in the chorus of protest from the women about the scheduling of matches compared with the men this fortnight in London.
She disagreed with comments made by her beaten third-round opponent Victoria Azarenka, saying there was no divine right to be allocated a show court.
Halep said: ‘Many players deserve to play on main courts. If I was No 1, it doesn’t mean I have to play on Centre Court every time.’