Irina-Camelia Begu

Early life and background

Begu was born in Bucharest to mother Steluţa, a civil servant, and father Paul, an electrician. She has an older brother, Andrei.

Introduced to tennis at age three and a half by her aunt, former player Aurelia Gheorghe, she also did gymnastics and played handball as a junior. At 14, she joined an ITF tour with other juniors including Grigor Dimitrov and Ricardas Berankis. Her childhood idol was Martina Hingis.

Career

Begu reached a junior world ranking of No. 14 on 27 August 2007. She debuted on the ITF Junior Circuit in singles at the Grade-4 Wilson ITF Junior Classic in Salzburg in January 2005, and in doubles at the Grade-3 Trofeul D Sturdza in Moldova in March 2005. She won one singles and three doubles junior titles. Her first junior singles title came at the Grade-2 Raquette d'Or in Mohammedia in June 2006.

At the 2007 French Open, she made her major debut but lost in the first round. At Wimbledon 2007, she lost in the first round in singles but reached the doubles semifinal with Oksana Kalashnikova. Her last junior tournament was the 2008 French Open, where she lost in the first round in both events.

National representation

At the London Olympics, Begu lost in the first round of women's singles to Victoria Azarenka. At the Paris Olympics, partnering Monica Niculescu, she lost in the first round to the Taiwanese pair Hsieh Su-wei and Tsao Chia-yi.