Halep Crowns Home Champion. Wins Too Many Friends

Ever since it was announced that Bucharest will be hosting a WTA event, the Romanian crowd had just one thing of its mind: have Simona Halep bring home the title. This felt like a certainty, Simona being featured in all TV commercial promoting the championships as the winner—even before the start of the competition. Moved from Budapest, Halep was the defending champion and the No.1 seed was a huge favourite to retain her crowd.

Cheered by an army of supporters, Simona had little trouble getting the job done. Although she beat lower-ranked players, playing at home can sometime be nerve-wrecking. Halep handled the pressure tremendously, trashing second seeded Italian, Roberta Vinci, 6-1, 6-3 in the final to give the Romanian people their champion. To add to the celebration, Alexandra Cadantu and Elena Bogdan teamed up to win the doubles title, making it a home sweep at the first edition of the BRD Bucharest Open.

In addition to all her on-court achievements, Simona has accomplished something far more significant: she forced the Romanian people to discover tennis. Some fell genuinely in love with the sport, others found inspiration for their social media statuses, but everyone is now talking about tennis—which became the hottest topic for discussion in the Romanian elitist groups. It's funny how people start to love you forever and ever just after you reach the heights. The same people that didn't give a f**k about you and what you do, now take pride in your achievement. They act like they were there to support you every step of your journey to success. It's OK celebrate her success, but don't feel entitled to it. They don't belong to her mother, father, lover, or the Romanian people. Simona's achievements are her own. I am still amazed by her tremendous transformation. She has made such progress already, but she needs to win a Grand Slam if she wants to book her place in the history book.

Simona Halep crowned herself the first champion at her home event in Bucharest, trashing second seeded Italian, Roberta Vinci, 6-1,6-3 in the final.

photos: HotNews.ro

Young Guns Pospisil & Sock Rise to Fame

Playing in just their first outing together, young guns Canadian Vasek Pospisil and American Jack Sock pulled off the biggest shock of the doubles tournament, going all the way to lifting the biggest title of their young career.

It was a dream fortnight for this exciting duo who stunned eighth seeds Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, second seeds Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares, and fifth seeds Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek en route to the final. In the championships match, Pospisil and Sock took out the all-time greats, Mike and Bob Bryan, after a hard-fought 7-6,6-7,6-4,3-6,7-5 victory. While Sock has won the 2011 US Open mixed doubles trophy with Melanie Oudin, this was Pospisil first title of any kind.

"I think this is the highlight of my career, for sure," said Pospisil. "These last two weeks have been amazing, to be honest, because the whole year was a struggle. Just not feeling good on the court. Then last week was my first pain-free week of the year. That was really nice. Then now to cap it off with a title at Wimbledon is not bad."

"We had a lot of fun," added Sock. "People could see that. I think that's part of why we did well. We really enjoyed being out there, enjoyed the moment. It was both of our first times on Centre Court there. As kids we grew up watching this tournament. This is what we kind of dreamed of doing. To be able to go out there and play the best doubles team of all time and to get a win was pretty incredible."
The pair will continue to play together, so I expect some more great tennis from these jubilant young guns. Best of luck, guys!

In just their first outing together, Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock stunned world No.1, the Bryan brothers, 7-6,6-7,6-4,3-6,7-5 to win the Wimbledon doubles crown.

It was a dream fortnight for the Canadian-American duo who caused a slew of upsets en route to the title.

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Nick Kyrgios, The New Teen Superstar

Belief is crucial in beating Rafa Nadal, but there's a long way from believing it to being able to execute it. Nick Kyrgios found a shortcut when he stunned the world No.1 to advance to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal on his Wimbledon main draw debut.

The Aussie young gun has had a stellar juniors career—in 2013 he won the Australian Open singles title and the Wimbledon doubles crown with compatriot Thanasi Kokkinakis—and at 19 years old, he showed he is ready to take on the biggest aces of the game. Although a two-time champion, Rafa has found it difficult to transition from clay to grass-courts lately. You'd think that last year's stunning first-round defeat to Oliver Rochus would require revenge, but the Spaniard failed to impress en route to the fourth round. Kyrgios, who famously saved nine match points against Frenchman Richard Gasquet, took full advantage of his opponent's poor form. He delivered a killer performance and won the match 7-6,5-7,7-6,6-3.

"I think I was in a bit of a zone out there," Kyrgios told BBC television. "It hasn't sunk in what just played out out there. I played extraordinary tennis. I was struggling a bit on return, but I worked my way into it. I served at a really good level and I'm really happy.

"You've got to believe you can win the match from the start and I did. I'm playing unbelievable tennis on the grass. He hit extraordinary shots, but he's always going to bring that."

While the recently crowned French Open champion is left to heal his wounds, the Aussie teenager is enjoying his overnight stardom. He goes on to battle another rising star, Canadian Milos Raonic.

Kyrgios has the game to go very far. Plus, he proved he has the mental strength to battle in the grown-ups league. It remains to be seen how well he will cope with his new-found status as the Aussie golden kid. While Lleyton Hewitt did a brilliant job, winning two Grand Slams and reaching world No.1, bad boy Bernand Tomic has yet to fulfill the promise. Hopefully Nick will fare better! He has great pedigree and huge potential.

Young sensation Nick Kyrgios proved you need strong belief to take down the big guns. The Aussie teenager produced the performance of his career, stunning world No.1 and recently crown French Open champ, Rafael Nadal, 7-6,5-7,7-6,6-3 to reach his maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal.

photos: GETTY IMAGES