On Romania’s National Day, Romanians will have the chance to watch the first documentary featuring and about Simona Halep, one of Romania’s greatest athletes and world No. 1 for 64 weeks. The documentary was made at the initiative and with the full support of Banca Transilvania and carries an inspirational message, Simona Halep is no accident; she is the result. The documentary 3 mm will air on December 1 on PRO TV at 4:00 PM, after which it will be available on the BT Blog.

The documentary is about hard work, performance, courage, motivation and sacrifice, about the toughest moments in tennis and what a good game means — in Simona Halep’s own words:

• Tennis has been my life so far; everything around me is for tennis.
• When I see I’ve missed a ball, I feel like hitting 100, 200 shots, even more, until I feel I’ve got the feel of the ball.
• I need to feel good with the people I work with. I chose Darren because I really liked his coaching philosophy, the way he talks, the fact that he understood me, that he understood my personality.
• A point or a shot can change a player’s whole mindset.
• There’s nothing magical in sport. You just have to work, that’s all.

“Everything BT has done together with Simona, since launching the partnership in 2018, was meant to inspire and mobilize Romania, to show Romanians that success is not an accident, but the result of our actions. That’s what the documentary we’re releasing on December 1, Romania’s National Day, is about.” – says Sergiu Mircea, Executive Director, Marketing and Communication, Banca Transilvania.

The documentary was directed by Radu Muntean, produced by Dragos Vilcu, with collaborators Multimedia Est, Next Advertising and Three Creatives. Filming took place in December 2019, during Simona Halep’s training and preparations.

“Statues and heroes bore me; I find them devoid of any interest. Simona Halep is neither. She works to the point of exhaustion, ignores her limits, can be charming and unbearable almost at the same time, knows she isn’t perfect and that sometimes she can be her own worst enemy, but that doesn’t stop her from constantly, stubbornly and without compromise striving for perfection. That kind of person fascinates me.” – says Radu Muntean, the documentary’s director.

Banca Transilvania and Simona Halep: two years on the same court

Banca Transilvania’s collaboration with Simona Halep began in 2018, out of the desire to make Romanians everywhere even prouder that the world No. 1 for 64 weeks is from Romania. Since then, BT’s December 1 messages have been delivered through Simona Halep, via the campaigns: Let’s get to work, Romania!, Courage, Romania! and Happy Birthday, Romania!

Both Simona Halep and director Radu Muntean were among this year’s guests on the BT Talks podcast and spoke about A lot of hard work, performance and what it’s like to win a Grand Slam final, and about What it means to be a director in Romania.

As a token of appreciation for being one of Romania’s symbols, Banca Transilvania gave Simona Halep, on behalf of Romanians, two surprises: the message Our hero was displayed in Times Square, New York, on the occasion of her participation in the US Open and her Wimbledon title, and a birthday greeting was projected in key locations in Paris, as this coincided this year with her participation at Roland Garros.