Article by David Istrate – Published Saturday, June 13, 2026, 4:17 p.m. / Updated Saturday, June 13, 2026, 4:19 p.m.
The journalists present at the Sports Festival have an unpleasant surprise at Simona Halep's retirement event, which takes place this evening, in the BTarena in Cluj-Napoca. Seats at the press table were given to VIPs, while journalists and photographers were moved in an improvisation by the organizers.
Simona Halep will officially retire from tennis tonight, in an event attended by Elina Svitolina, Gael Monfils and Andrei Pavel. Darren Cahill, the former coach of the double Grand Slam winner, Andrew Krasny, the famous American presenter, and Kader Nouni, the charismatic tennis referee, will also be present in BTarena.
Journalists and photographers, “second-class citizens” at the Sports Festival and Transylvania Open
So far, the event has been a real success for most groups involved: athletes, guests, children, adults and spectators. Sports lovers from Romania had the opportunity to meet and pose with some big names of Romanian and world sports, as well as to test different sports.
But, just like at other events organized by the Sports Festival team, such as the Transylvania Open, the conditions for journalists are extremely modest. Over the years, both photographers and journalists complained at several editions of the WTA 250 tournament in Cluj-Napoca about the lack of respect shown by the organizers.
For example, accredited photographers do not have access to the proximity of the court, as it happens at every WTA tournament in the world, but have to take shots from the stands. Also, there is no press table, but reporters are forced to sit on the last two rows of the stand and write with their laptops in their arms.
A similar situation is this time, at Simona Halep's retirement event. Although the Sports Festival organizers showed extraordinary organizational skills by bringing 120 tons of sand for Thursday's horse show and then removing it and preparing the field for Halep's match, they were unwilling to make the same effort for journalists.
The seats in the BTarena for the media were given to VIPs
More precisely, the seats at the press table were given to VIPs: comfortable armchairs were put in and tables were taken out. Instead, the journalists were moved to some improvised tribunes, without sockets and without tables.
In the respective stands some chairs were crammed in several rows, with no space between them. The other chairs dedicated to photographers were placed behind the billboards, but with no room to move around and take pictures.
Instead, Sports Festival has a real “army” of accredited photographers, responsible for capturing the moments during the festival and satisfying the partners. They have additional access to all areas of the hall, while photos of the other publications are considered to be “second-rate”.
So, photographers are forced to huddle, without having freedom of movement, while journalists will have to hope that the batteries of their laptops and phones will last until the end of the event.
To GSP's question about the possibility of having a table, the organizers did not give any answer for about an hour. They then replied that there were no tables, but that they would bring an extension cord to have an outlet.
