Ion Ţiriac: “Simona Halep is a great athlete and has a lot of room to progress”

Ion Ţiriac is of the opinion that Simona Halephas a lot of room to progress, but he does not know if she would be better off with a Romanian coach, stating that he does not know the former technician of the WTA 3rd place holder, the Belgian Wim Fissette , nor “the lord who is coming now”.

Simona Halep announced, last week, that she ended the collaboration with Wim Fissette, with whom she worked since the beginning of this year. She said that she wants a Romanian coach, with a similar mentality, who will support her when it’s hard and when it’s good, and who will be a very good pedagogue.

At the Tournament of Champions, the last competition she participated in, Simona Halep had with her and Daniel Dobre, former national champion and former coach of Alexandra Dulgheru. But the athlete from Constanta has not yet officially nominated Dobre as her new technician.

Asked, on Monday, if he will also take care of Simona Halep’s career, Ţiriac, a former manager, answered: “Simona Halep has a manager, who seven years ago, when she won Roland Garros as a junior, believed in her a lot. But It’s a manager who does his duty. He changes one coach for another. In tennis, the player pays the coach. I’ve only seen one coach come to me and say, ‘I’m sorry.’ , I will never have the money I have from Becker, but I can’t help him with anything. He leaves the tournament, he does what he wants, he pays me.’

This is not the case here, when the coach is good, he must say in two seconds if he is good. Simona Halep has her own team that takes care of her. Of course he greets me, he also asks me what it is about. She is a great athlete. I don’t know if he would be better off with a Romanian coach. I don’t want to express myself because I didn’t know the other one either, I don’t know the gentleman who is coming now either. What I do know is that he has a lot of room for improvement. Now it depends on how much you want it too. But she’s a great athlete.”