One of Simona Halep’s first “angel investors” dies at hospital: “He helped me a lot”

Corneliu Idu, the businessman who helped Simona Halep survive the tough years of her early career died at 70 years old in a Romanian hospital after he was tested positive with COVID-19, as reported by Digi Sport.

Corneliu Idu had a net worth of around 250 million euros and was one of the wealthiest Romanians alive and the richest from Constanta, the city where he owned a few tennis courts, per Romanian media.

“I loved tennis a lot. I was lucky that when I was 16 years old, I had a sponsor from Constanta, Mister Corneliu Idu, who helped with everything for two years, he paid for everything. He helped me a lot at that moment. It’s very tough, the costs are very high, so you need a pretty good financial situation to practice tennis. It’s a very expensive sport. But with a lot of confidence and a little craziness, as I said, you can climb to the top even from less fortunate financial situations”, Simona Halep told Romanian newspaper Adevarul a few years ago.

Simona Halep was infected with COVID-19 as well

As reported by us, Simona Halep declared, at the start of November, that she got infected with COVID-19.

“Hi everyone, I wanted to let you know that I tested positive for COVID-19. I am self-isolating at home and am recovering well from mild symptoms. I feel good... we will get through this together,” said Halep on social media.

However, since then Simona Halep restarted training and even posted a picture with the medics that treated her. “Thanks to the Matei Bals’ team for your superb support during this time,” Halep wrote on Facebook.

The former world no. 1 ended her season after Roland Garros in October, choosing not to participate in the two WTA events that were to follow the Major, Ostrava and Linz (to be played between 9th-15th November).

At Roland Garros, Halep lost against eventual champion Iga Swiatek in the 4th round.

Recently, Halep shared her story of success and how she adapted to pressure.

"In 2014, tennis changed my life. I played my first major final at Roland Garros. No Romanian tennis player had ever played a Grand Slam final since 1978. Emotions exploded and everyone had high expectations for my future. They began to think that I could win a Grand Slam title..." See the rest of the story here.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3g6IsPl