Women’s world No.32 Sorona Cirstea says she stands by a post she shared on social media as they are “values” she believe in.
Last month the Romanian received some backlash online for sharing a post which was deemed by some as transphobic and sexiest. In her Instagram story, Cirstea shared a post that said “Make men masculine again. Make women feminine again. Make children innocent again.” Critics have accused the tennis player of supporting unproven views that the LGBT+ community are in some way trying to influence young people, particularly transgender people.
Just over a month since the post was published, Cirstea has broken her silence on the matter during a recent interview. She insisted that no offence was intended to be made and said at the time she was inspired by the Wimbledon Championships. The Romanian reached the third round at SW19 this year.
“Honestly, that post, which was actually a repost of a message I had seen, fit the moment I was in,” she said.
“I was at Wimbledon, and people generally know that it’s a tournament where the spectators are smartly dressed, there are certain rules that have to be followed.”
“I had just seen, the day before, the Princess of Wales with such elegance and femininity and kindness…rarely had I felt such energy from someone.’
“I was inspired by this post. They are principles that guide me as well.
“Likewise, the gentlemen were nicely dressed, civilized, in shirts, jackets, everyone was with their families, with children, who were innocent. They weren’t necessarily on the phones.”
Cirstea has insisted that the text was completely ‘positive’ and has suggested that in today’s world some people want to pick fault with anything. In recent weeks there has been a big debate surrounding the presence of transgender athletes in women’s sports with some organisations such as cycling deciding to ban them from the category. Critics argue that male-to-female athletes have an unfair advantage in certain sports but it is a very complex situation.
“It seems to me that nowadays, no matter what you say, one looks for the negative behind it or looks for some reasons that could bring… no, simply, it was a text in which I appreciated some values,” she added.
Cirstea played at the Citi Open this week where she won her first round match against Patra Martic before losing to Liudmila Samsonova.
