Davis Cup - the tricolors fight to still count in the competition

The Romanian tennis team will play, today and tomorrow, a crucial match in the Davis Cup World Group I play-off, against Bulgaria. The match will take place at the Multipurpose Hall in Craiova. The local men's tennis has not been going through a good period for several years, but, as we have seen in other sports, there is always room for worse.

The non-playing captain of Romania, Gabriel Trifu, declared that the team is "in good spirits", but mentioned that the match will be difficult: "We are happy to return to Craiova. The conditions are excellent, the court is very good. We have started to get used to the playing surface. The team is in good spirits, I like how they feel. A difficult match awaits us. The Chinese had a player in the top 100, so they gave us some problems. Now, the Bulgarian players have about the same ranking as ours, so it will be much more balanced. The result can be anything in this duel. They have also had victories lately, so we can say that they are moving quite well. I would say that there are a little more emotions now just because we are at the same level as Bulgaria. Whoever performs better this weekend and is in better shape will win".

Trifu mentioned that he hopes that the audience will motivate the team: "The audience will also matter a lot. If we remember last time, in Cezar's last game, when there was more noise and pressure on the Chinese, everything went as it should. We hope that the fans here will be with us and push us from behind. In the last match with China, our player, Cezar Creţu, met an athlete ranked 600th, and the match was extremely close. We are enjoying this meeting and hope that this team will make a name for itself and that we will only hear about great results in the future. Each Davis Cup match gives you a special, personal confidence, which can help you in individual tournaments. We want all those selected to create their own path and grow as much as possible in the ATP ranking. We do not have any specific wishes for the draw. I want, however, that our athletes have the necessary confidence to bring victories to the team".

On the other hand, the non-playing captain of Bulgaria, Valentin Dimov, stated that he is confident that it will be a beautiful experience for his team: "Thank you for the welcome, I found Craiova to be a very beautiful, welcoming city. We have also done a few trainings so far in the Multipurpose Hall and we feel very good here. The playing surface is excellent and I am glad that we have the complete team, so that we can prepare at maximum capacity. It is an honor to be the captain of the Davis Cup team. I was once part of the Davis Cup team and I know all the feelings that arise during the competition, such as pressure, emotions, etc. The atmosphere in the team is good, we all help each other and we trust that everything will be fine. We enjoy our presence here and we can say that it will be a beautiful experience. I want to mention that we have a lot of friends from Romanian tennis. We grew up together on the tennis court, we know Sorana Cîrstea well, for example, and we enjoy being in their country". Romania will be represented in the match against Bulgaria by: Filip Jianu, 23 years old, ATP 218; Cezar Cretu, 23 years old, ATP 309; Adrian Boitan, 25 years old, ATP 370; Victor Cornea, 31 years old, ATP 91 (doubles); Bogdan Pavel, 25 years old, ATP 255 (doubles). Bulgaria counts on: Adrian Andreev, 23 years old, ATP 217; Petr Nesterov, 21 years old, ATP 431 (singles), ATP 311 (doubles); Alexander Donski 26 years old, ATP 229 (doubles); Yanaki Milev, 20 years old, ATP 497 (singles), ATP 405 (doubles); Iliyan Radulov, 19 years old, ATP 538. The winner of this match will advance to World Group I in September 2025, and the losing team will play in World Group II.