"Maybe there’s always a little door open..": Sorana Cirstea refuses to fully rule out retirement U-turn but currently set on 2026 end

It was one of the best wins of her career in terms of stature in beating the World No.1 for Sorana Cirstea as the 36-year-old took full advantage of a pretty off colour display from Aryna Sabalenka who won the first set and looked to be cruising up in the second at the Rome Open.

But disaster struck as she started to struggle with what was later confirmed to be a lower back injury. She is now facing a battle to be right for Roland Garros. While Cirstea moves through and all talk as retirement looms turns to that.

Of course as a result of a win as great as this, the question turns to whether she would reconsider retirement and she said that it is still the case that she will end her career at the end of the season and that while she leaves the door ajar, she won't change her mind currently.

“Of course this is the question I’m getting every week. At the moment not much is changing. It’s a wonderful victory, but it’s still only the third round and I have to keep going.

“I know the level is there, I know my mind is there and I’m enjoying everything. I still have so many goals and every time I step on the court I want to improve. But at the same time, my mind is still quite set on retiring at the end of the year. We’ll see how the year goes. Maybe there’s always a little door open because you never know how things go in life. You can plan things, but they don’t always happen the way you expect. We’ll see what life has to offer for me.”

Before that it turned to regrets and whether Cirstea has any in her career as retirement looms. Could she have achieved more? "Yes, I think every athlete has regrets, no matter where you are. Even if you’re world No.1 or you’ve won Grand Slams, you always believe you could have done more.

“Of course maybe at the beginning of my career I could have done things better. I could have been more disciplined and there are lots of things I could have improved. But I’m very happy with the last part of my career because I feel I’ve really given everything to tennis. I’ve worked hard, been disciplined and done all the right things.

“So maybe I have regrets about the beginning of my career, but towards the end I feel I’ve been very professional and I’m very happy with that. I’m also happy that in the last couple of years I’ve managed to find a balance, to still be competitive and ambitious, but also enjoy what I’m doing because I love tennis and I love the sport. There are always regrets, but at some point you have to make peace with them and move on.”

Cirstea went on to say she would've been happy in theory to retire in Clluj when she won the title. "I think the thing that makes me happiest is the consistency I’ve been able to show every single week this year.

“At the same time, the title I won at home in Cluj at the Transylvania Open was amazing for me. That was probably the best week of my life. The experience, everything I lived there, the memories I created and the way the people made me feel — it was absolutely amazing.

“I said that if I had retired after Cluj, I would have been very, very happy. But again, everything that’s happening now is great. I’ve been working very, very hard to be here and I’m glad the results are showing it as well.”

Cirstea takes great satisfaction also from the fact that she continues to be competitive and push the World's best. “Yes, absolutely. I said a couple of days ago that this year I’ve had some very close matches against the top girls. Last week in Madrid I was up 6-4, 2-0 against Coco Gauff, then in Linz against Mirra Andreeva.

“I’ve had many chances in third sets and I’ve played quite a few matches lately against top players where I came up a little bit short. I felt maybe I wasn’t brave enough in the important moments or didn’t take enough risks.

“I think I learned from those losses and today, in the important moments, I tried to play aggressively and on my terms. Against the top girls you cannot just play safe, they are not going to give it to you, you have to earn it. Today I knew that if I wanted to beat Aryna, I had to earn it.”

But whether it is the best win of her career is up for debate and that she was surprised that she has never actually beaten a World No.1 before. “It’s very hard to say if this is the best win because I’ve had wonderful wins in my career. I’ve always been a player that, on a good day, could beat anyone.

“I actually had the impression that I’d beaten a world No.1 before, so I was surprised. I don’t really want to rank my matches and say which was the best.

“But absolutely this is a match I’m very happy with, especially because of the way I played. I think in the second and third sets I played at a very high level and really followed the game plan. Winning the match on my terms made me very happy. Of course it’s going to be an important win, but I’ve had quite a few that I treasure through the years.”

But as a country with talent but also not at the same time, it has been up to Cirstea recently to fly the flag. “Yes, we are a country with a wonderful history in tennis, from Ilie Năstase and Ion Țiriac to Virginia Ruzici, then Andrei Pavel, Simona Halep becoming world No.1 and so on.

“Unfortunately, we don’t really have a system and we’re not all from the same place. I just think we have a history in the sport and we have some crazy parents who invest in their kids and want them to reach amazing heights in tennis.

“One good thing is that tennis is shown on TV every single day in Romania. Every tournament is on television, so you grow up watching tennis and wanting to be there yourself.

“My generation included Simona, Irina-Camelia Begu and a lot of other girls who reached the top 100, like Alexandra Dulgheru and others. I think we had an amazing generation and we pushed each other. I hope from now on other girls can follow in our steps and keep the tennis flag high for our country.”