“I thought I was the different one, but I lied to myself”

After Ilie Năstasethe absolute legend of Romanian men's tennis, the first world leader in the ATP circuit, Andrei Pavel was the closest to the Top 10. Extremely talented, with clean and spectacular strokes, a superb one-handed backhand and moments of finesse, he reached as high as 13th in the men's rankings on October 25, 2004.

With three ATP titles in his record, including a Masters 1000, Montreal 2001, and 6 other contested finals, a quarter-final at Roland Garros (2002), he played his last official match in 2009, in Bucharest, being defeated by the Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas.

In the Main Ingredient series podcast by Horia Tecau (41 years old, three-time Grand Slam champion in doubles and mixed doubles), Pavel spoke with emotional honesty about what came after the end of his career.

“Did you have a feeling of emptiness?” was the targeted question. “Yes. Big. Big, big.” And what was missing the most? “The void. To fill the void,” replied Andrei with a half smile.

Andrei Pavel: “I was not at all honest with myself, that I have a problem”

He then elaborated, pointing out that it's hard for him to talk about that stage because a lot of life-changing things happened during that time. “Simply put, it's a very personal thing. It was very difficult for me”, he admitted with a trembling voice.

“I thought I was the different one. I knew of many ex-players, professional athletes or athletes at a much higher level like myself, or much more well-known, who had some tough times after retiring from the professional life. I said that this would never happen to me. But it happened to me“, Pavel revealed.

“Not right away, but after a few years. And I wasn't honest with myself at all, that I had a problem. Actually, like that, I lied to myself. And a lot of things happened in my personal life then,” he repeated.

Andrei immediately admitted that, almost 17 years after his retirement, he still dreams of competing. Although he doesn't like to watch a lot of tennis, preferring to watch more technical or mental things, “specific things“, is fascinated by the duo that dominates men's tennis in recent times.

Andrei Pavel: “I would prefer to play with Alcaraz”

“Now, lately, with the two, Alcaraz and Sinner, and the others who are still behind. I love it, I can't lie, I mean tennis has a huge chance with these super players that have come out“, he opines. “When you thought what could come after… after a Fed, after a Djoko, after a Nadal, after a Murray, after all these great playersPavel continued.

Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz with the Monte Carlo 2026 trophies Photo: Imago Images

“And look, an Alcaraz appears, a Sinner appears… Yes, very beautiful. And it inspires me like this, I don't know, a desire. I would like to feel them like that, but well, I can't anymore”, he expressed his illusory desire to be able to face them in a direct duel, on the field.

“I dream of myself, in my time, when I was in the prime, playing with them. I still have moments like that, you know? And how would I do?”, asked the former world number 13. “Would you handle it?” Horia teased. “Normal. In dreams, yesAndrei laughed.

Returning to the serious register, the question came up with whom would it be easier, with Alcaraz or with Sinner? “With Alcaraz,” he answered, almost without hesitation. “I think I'd enjoy playing him more than Sinner. Sinner plays too straight, like that, but with Alcaraz I'd like it. That it's the matter of, you know, finesse, lobs, passing, these things that I also liked, to have a varied game, like he has“, emphasized Pavel.

Andrei Pavel: “I thank Simona for taking me on her team then”

After retiring, he ended up, perhaps naturally, in coaching. Now he has identified one of the dearest episodes that this job has given him. “As a coach I had one of the coolest moments. Do you realize, I was with Simona Halep, I was with her in China, she became world number one?“, he recalled what happened in October 2017, in Beijing.

“It was great and I thank Simona then for taking me in her team for a short period. Thanks to her, I don't know, I can also be proud that I was, you know how it is, a world number one coach. Or I was with her when she became world number one. It was great,” Andrei pointed out.

Andrei Pavel and Simona Halep at a demonstration match in Cluj-Napoca in 2024 Photo: Imago Images

Andrei Pavel: “I dream of bringing a player into the first hundred, a boy. Romanian”

But now he looks at success as a coach at another level. “I am much more modest. Especially now that I am a father, I want to stay at home more,” says Pavel, and immediately reveals his goal: “I dream of bringing a player to the first hundred, a boy. Romanian“.

“I think the girls have risen and I hope they rise more and more. But for the boys there hasn't been a player in the top 100 for a long time. But I am aware that for this thing you have to give everything from your private life. So you have to be there 100% from the beginning,” he elaborated. “Or to have such a good team, of such good people, that you can do that. And at the moment I don't have that. I'm very honest, I don't. And it makes me happy, it gives me satisfaction to go to training and see that progress slowly. That discipline,” he describes the stages of building a player.

“To have this challenge before, to train children or juniors who are more crazy, so to speak. Because if you have that player who is disciplined, talented, and has a good attitude, it's easy to coach, you know?“, says the Roland Garros quarter-finalist. “If you have one who is talented but lazy, disciplined but not talented? To find the ingredients there to take them further, and that makes me feel good, you know?”, he finished describing the challenge that would mark his work as a coach. And it would make his dream come true.