Two roads diverge in Westwood
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 23, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 CHRIS BACKLEY/Daily Bruin Tennis star Christina
Popescu’s career came to an abrupt end this season
when knee injuries forced her to stop playing.
By Jason Ebin
Daily Bruin Contributor
Since reading an article about UCLA as a 10-year old in her
hometown of Budapest, Romania, tennis prodigy Christina Popescu
dreamt that one day she would escape the oppressive communist state
of her youth and join the UCLA community.
Today Popescu is far removed from her childhood home after her
family fled to Canada in 1989; and she could not be any closer to
the UCLA community.
In fact, the North Campus Food Court has never had a more
successful athlete working behind its counters.
“I need the money and I need to work on campus because of
my visa,” Popescu said.
But if not for an unfortunate chain of events in March 1999,
serving food might seem as ludicrous to her as never competitively
playing tennis again.
At 17, Popescu came to her dream school after being
“probably the best tennis player in Canada,” according
to UCLA Head Coach Stella Sampras. Popescu claimed seven junior
Canadian championships and three world junior championships. She
also reached the quarterfinals of the junior French Open in 1996
and the semi-finals of the junior Australian Open in 1997.
In 1996, Popescu played in the Canadian Open, which was held in
her home province of Quebec. Popescu, who was 16 at the time and
living in Montreal, was the first player from the province to
compete in the tournament. Ten thousand people saw her live and
more than 500,000 others watched her on television. Although she
lost in the first round, Popescu considers playing in the Canadian
Open to be the highlight of her tennis career.
“It was so amazing to have all these people supporting me
and cheering me on,” she said. “It was unbelievable. I
don’t think anything will ever beat it.”
So during her freshman season, when Popescu continued to tear
down her opponents on the tennis court, her success came as no
surprise to the UCLA coaching staff. After just one season Popescu,
playing anywhere from number two to five in the lineup depending on
the state of her shoulder injury at the time, compiled a 21-12
overall record and was named the ITF West Region Rookie of the Year
and West Region Player to Watch.
She continued to dominate on the tennis court the first part of
her sophomore season, playing as high as number one for UCLA. But
then in March 1999 in a match against USC, Popescu had to default
due to a shoulder injury.
This started the chain of events that would redefine her
life.
In her drive to better herself while taking time off from tennis
due to her shoulder injury, Popescu continued to train on her own,
doing stairs and sprints. It was then that she injured her
knee.
“One day I was in the kitchen making some food,”
Popescu recalled. “I put weight on my right knee and it just
gave out. I fell on the floor crying.”
After an MRI revealed a partial tear in a tendon around her
knee, Popescu was forced to have reconstructive knee surgery. The
doctors proclaimed the surgery a success, saying that in one year
she would be 100 percent.
No one suspected that her tennis career would be over.
“We all expected her to come back,” Sampras said.
“Her knee was just not healing.”
“As soon as she got hurt she was so depressed,” said
Margaret Arnold, her roommate at the time.
Popescu continued her rehabilitation with hopes of one day
returning to tennis.
“She was just such a great competitor and she just wanted
to go out there to play,” Sampras said. “But if she
could not compete between 85 to 100 percent it was too frustrating
for her.”
Popescu’s knee continued to hurt in the 1999-2000 season.
She competed in only four doubles matches, going 1-3. But all did
not go according to plan.
After the attempt to return to the court this season was
unsuccessful, the Bruin coaching staff gave Popescu the winter
quarter off to think about whether she wanted to return to the
court for her final quarter at UCLA.
In a match against New Mexico in March, Popescu decided to give
tennis another chance.
“After three months I missed playing,” she said.
“So two weeks ago I decided to run the campus loop, and see
if my knee felt OK. I decided to give it a try.”
It would be the last time she took the court as a Bruin.
Entering the lineup at No. 5 singles, Popescu jumped out to a
4-1 lead before suffering fatigue. She eventually dropped the match
7-6, 6-4.
“My arm got tired and I was out of breath,” Popescu
said. After just two days of practice with the team and one match,
her body could not handle the stress. With one knee already
injured, her other knee became injured trying to
overcompensate.
Popescu realized her tennis career was over. The coaching staff
saw her frustration and gave her a medical retirement.
“She wasn’t happy out there, and it wasn’t a
good situation on both ends,” Sampras said. “She was
frustrated at practice and her frustration brought the team
down.”
Since her retirement Popescu has tried to concentrate on school
and will graduate this summer with a degree in international
economics. She is entertaining job offers in finance back home in
Montreal.
But for Popescu, tennis was the sport that defined her life, and
she can never forget it. She still struggles to put tennis behind
her.
When asked what aspects of tennis she missed, Popescu replied,
“The competition, the team bonding, the excitement …
everything.”
“She definitely went through something very
difficult,” Sampras said. “Tennis was her life, and to
have that taken away changes her identity.”
