National identity, state and social media discourse in Romania: the case of tennis

During the Communist era, Romanian athletes won numerous medals across various sports, including tennis, and the Romanian public strongly identified with their success. However, in recent years, Romania has seen few notable achievements at major international events, with a few exceptions like Simona Halep, who won Grand Slam titles and was ranked World No. 1 in 2018. Additionally, Bianca Andreescu, a Canadian player of Romanian descent, won the US Open in 2019. In September 2019, Romanian journalist and public figure Cristian Tudor Popescu posted two short articles on his Facebook page questioning the relationship between sports, the state, and national identity. The posts generated 941 comments from his followers. Using thematic analysis, we gathered insights into the Romanian public's current perspective on high-performance sports, represented here by Simona Halep's achievements. The results suggested that, through sports, the public continues to express their national identity, while also voicing criticism of the system.