Serving Up Success
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Hi, my name is Karola-Patricia Bejenaru! I’m 18 years old. I am a professional tennis player born in Braila- Romania. This is my story and I am asking you to help make my tennis potential come true.
I come from a sporting family: my grandfather played tennis; my father played table tennis and my mum and sister played handball. When I was 2 years old I used to take my dad’s table tennis bat to bounce balls (and also eat the bat after I was done). When I was 7 years old, I started to play tennis at school. At the age of 8 I started to play tournaments all over Romania. My mum drove me every day to practice and in the weekends to tournaments. At age 9, I started to train everyday. I was practicing on clay in the summer and on an indoor court in the winter. At U10 I was number 8 in Romania and at U12 before I left to live in Belfast I was number 1 in Romania.
My Dad has lived in Belfast for 15 years. He had 3 jobs just to keep the family going and support my tennis. In 2007 I, my sister and my mum moved to join my dad in Belfast. Since I arrived in Belfast I started training with Ulster Tennis. It was very hard for me at the start as I didn’t speak English. When I was 14, I started training with Przemek Stec, a former juniors champion from Poland and Ulster Champion. Since then I have been the second youngest player in Ireland to win the U18 Fitzwilliam LTC. I am in the top 20 in Tennis Europe and number 1 in Ireland. At the age of 15 I got my first points in the International Tennis Federation Junior Circuit, U18 in Norway. My first ITF win was in 2013 in Edinburgh. At the age of 15 I started playing Juniors ITF reaching a career high ranking of 101, and continued getting my ranking up and playing grade 2, 1 and A tennis including Grand Slams (Wimbledon and Roland Garros). My goal for juniors was to play the Grand Slams by the end of 2015 so my dad and I travelled with the car around Europe to tournaments. It was very difficult as it was very expensive and tiring. Sometimes we slept in the car as the hotels were expensive for us. My dad entered me into the Australian Open and the US Open in [2015] to see where I was on the list, when the list came out I was in main draw already but my dad withdraw me from them because they were very expensive and my family couldn’t afford it. Until recently, my dad, Leonard cleaned in a cinema, and delivered pizzas for Dominos from 4.30pm through to 5am before heading home to pick me up to go to training at 7am and finish at 8.15am, before going to school. After I finish school, my dad takes me to training again from 16:00-18:00.
Even right now it’s very difficult to get to play in most of the tournaments I should play. I started my professional tennis journey in 2015, finishing 954 in the world in singles and 955 in doubles. I am currently 851 in singles and 891 in doubles, making me Ireland’s number 2 female tennis player. I am the first NI tennis player to reach this ranking. My goal is to go higher and do Northern Ireland proud.
But this will be challenging without some extra support. My dad now has problems with his back from working too much, and the only income that we have right now is my mum’s; she has 2 jobs and it’s very difficult to make ends meet and allow me to continue my tennis career.
At the moment, I can only compete in the lowest level of WTA tournaments. With your help, I can aim to improve my ranking in 2016 to top 400 and play at the challenger level, which is one step away from the Grand Slams.
Your generous donations will be used for flights and accommodation to tournaments around the globe to allow me to improve my rankings and represent Northern Ireland at the Grand Slams.
Thank you!
I come from a sporting family: my grandfather played tennis; my father played table tennis and my mum and sister played handball. When I was 2 years old I used to take my dad’s table tennis bat to bounce balls (and also eat the bat after I was done). When I was 7 years old, I started to play tennis at school. At the age of 8 I started to play tournaments all over Romania. My mum drove me every day to practice and in the weekends to tournaments. At age 9, I started to train everyday. I was practicing on clay in the summer and on an indoor court in the winter. At U10 I was number 8 in Romania and at U12 before I left to live in Belfast I was number 1 in Romania.My Dad has lived in Belfast for 15 years. He had 3 jobs just to keep the family going and support my tennis. In 2007 I, my sister and my mum moved to join my dad in Belfast. Since I arrived in Belfast I started training with Ulster Tennis. It was very hard for me at the start as I didn’t speak English. When I was 14, I started training with Przemek Stec, a former juniors champion from Poland and Ulster Champion. Since then I have been the second youngest player in Ireland to win the U18 Fitzwilliam LTC. I am in the top 20 in Tennis Europe and number 1 in Ireland. At the age of 15 I got my first points in the International Tennis Federation Junior Circuit, U18 in Norway. My first ITF win was in 2013 in Edinburgh. At the age of 15 I started playing Juniors ITF reaching a career high ranking of 101, and continued getting my ranking up and playing grade 2, 1 and A tennis including Grand Slams (Wimbledon and Roland Garros). My goal for juniors was to play the Grand Slams by the end of 2015 so my dad and I travelled with the car around Europe to tournaments. It was very difficult as it was very expensive and tiring. Sometimes we slept in the car as the hotels were expensive for us. My dad entered me into the Australian Open and the US Open in [2015] to see where I was on the list, when the list came out I was in main draw already but my dad withdraw me from them because they were very expensive and my family couldn’t afford it. Until recently, my dad, Leonard cleaned in a cinema, and delivered pizzas for Dominos from 4.30pm through to 5am before heading home to pick me up to go to training at 7am and finish at 8.15am, before going to school. After I finish school, my dad takes me to training again from 16:00-18:00.
Even right now it’s very difficult to get to play in most of the tournaments I should play. I started my professional tennis journey in 2015, finishing 954 in the world in singles and 955 in doubles. I am currently 851 in singles and 891 in doubles, making me Ireland’s number 2 female tennis player. I am the first NI tennis player to reach this ranking. My goal is to go higher and do Northern Ireland proud.
But this will be challenging without some extra support. My dad now has problems with his back from working too much, and the only income that we have right now is my mum’s; she has 2 jobs and it’s very difficult to make ends meet and allow me to continue my tennis career.
At the moment, I can only compete in the lowest level of WTA tournaments. With your help, I can aim to improve my ranking in 2016 to top 400 and play at the challenger level, which is one step away from the Grand Slams.
Your generous donations will be used for flights and accommodation to tournaments around the globe to allow me to improve my rankings and represent Northern Ireland at the Grand Slams.
Thank you!
Organizer
Karola Bejenaru
Organizer
