Former tennis player Ion Țiriac stated on Friday that it would be nice for player Simona Halep, whose 4-year doping suspension was reduced to 9 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, to receive a wild card at the Paris Olympics as compensation for what she suffered unjustly.
„It would be nice for Simona to receive that wild card as compensation for what she suffered unjustly for so long. I’m not convinced she will get it, although I wish for it, because there are many who are affirmed at 15, 16, 17, 18 years old, but did not meet the requirements (conditions imposed for Olympic qualification) because they did not have the opportunity,” Țiriac said.
„We need to be a little careful with Simona Halep, because there are many who talk in vain. After two years of a break, it takes another two years to come back. Perhaps Simona has these two years, but how much morale does she need to take a beating from a 15-year-old junior or to lose in the first round here, in the first round there, and in the second round over there and in the third round on the other side. Who has this morale? She is a Wimbledon winner and world number 1 for so many weeks. So if Simona has patience and enjoys what she does, yes… if not… Because tennis professionals are not miners. No, they have a profession that they do with pleasure, for pleasure, and that’s how they should be treated,” he added.
Ion Țiriac mentioned that he would be satisfied if Romania wins 8 medals at the Paris Olympics, emphasizing that success at the ultimate competition depends greatly on the form on the day of the competition.
„It’s said 10 medals at the Olympics, but I’m satisfied with 8. Popovici, of course she can, the question is in what form she will be. But let’s ask Potec what she did, because she won gold not in her event, and in her event she finished fourth. Because that’s how it is, you prepare for four years for 10 seconds in the 100 meters, and that morning your stomach hurts and you’ve finished four years of work. I trained for four years and at 20 years old, 3 days before we left for the Olympics, I boycotted it. That was the ruin of my life. I can write three novels about the life of an athlete,” the businessman mentioned at the event organized on the occasion of the official inclusion in the Ţiriac Collection gallery of the Mercedes AMG One car.