Romana Tabak

Romana Tabak (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈrɔmana ˈtabak]) or Romana Tabaková ([- ˈtabakɔʋaː]; born 7 May 1991) is a Slovak politician and former professional tennis player. She is a former junior world No. 36, achieving that ranking in March 2008. Her career-high ranking of world No. 240 was achieved February 2012.

Romana Tabak
Born (1991-05-07) 7 May 1991
Bratislava, Slovak Republic
EducationConcordia College
Children1
Member of the National Council
Assumed office
21 March 2020
Personal details
Political partyOrdinary People and Independent Personalities (2020-2022)
We Are Family (2022-2023)
Slovak National Party (2023-)
Tennis career
Full nameRomana Caroline Tabak
Country (sports) Slovakia
ResidenceBratislava, Slovak Republic
Height1.79 m (5 ft 10+1⁄2 in)
Turned pro2005
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money$42,131
Singles
Career record113–74 (60.4%)
Career titles6 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 240 (27 February 2012)
Doubles
Career record52–40 (56.5%)
Career titles5 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 313 (17 August 2009)

Political career

On 29 February 2020, she got elected in parliamentary elections and became a member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic for the political party Ordinary People along with fellow Slovak tennis players Karol Kučera and Ján Krošlák.[1] In May 2022, she was expelled from the party, after voting against the potential prosecution of former PM Robert Fico in custody.[2] In August, she joined the parliamentary caucus of the We Are Family party.[3] In March 2023, she left the caucus over her opposition to donating Slovak Mig 29 fighter jets to Ukraine, which Sme Rodina supported.[4]

In late September 2022, Tabak was legally accused by a Freedom and Solidarity MP Jana Bittó Cigániková of assault in a nightclub.[5] She was sentenced of a misdemeanor and ordered to pay a 30 euro fine as a result of the attack.[6]

Tabak did not run for re-election in the 2023 parliamentary election, but announced she was joining the far-right Slovak National Party. She was also featured in advertisements for the party's electoral campaign and has declared that she will run for the party in the 2024 European Parliament election.[7] She will be running in fifth place on the party's electoral list.[8]

Personal

Tabak was a contestant in 2007 in Slovakia's Next Top Model, but withdrew after a few episodes because of parental disapproval.[9] In 2012, the same year Tabak reached her highest singles ranking, she was diagnosed with Lyme disease, and blamed this for damaging her development as a tennis player on the pro tour.[10] She studied at Durham University from 2017 to 2018 on a sports scholarship.[11][12]

Charitable activities

Tabak took part in missionary trips to India, Africa and Brazil and she aided Ukrainian refugees at the Main Railway Station in Bratislava in March and April 2022.[13]

Tennis career

ITF finals
$50,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments

Singles (6–3)
Result W–L Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 1. 11 May 2008 ITF Michalovce, Slovakia Clay Slovakia Klaudia Boczová 2–6, 3–6
Win 1. 17 August 2008 ITF Iława, Poland Clay Poland Aleksandra Rosolska 6–3, 4–6, 6–1
Win 2. 2 May 2010 ITF Bournemouth, UK Clay United Kingdom Lisa Whybourn 6–1, 6–7(7), 7–6(7)
Loss 2. 1 May 2011 ITF Bournemouth, UK Clay Germany Scarlett Werner 3–6, 5–7
Win 3. 14 May 2011 ITF Båstad, Sweden Clay Poland Olga Brózda 7–5, 6–7(2), 6–2
Win 4. 5 November 2011 Asunción Open, Paraguay Clay Argentina María Irigoyen 5–7, 7–6(7), 7–5
Win 5. 12 November 2011 Asunción Open Clay Austria Tina Schiechtl 6–7(4), 6–4, 6–4
Win 6. 19 November 2011 Asunción Open Clay Argentina Florencia Molinero 6–1, 6–0
Loss 3. 10 December 2011 ITF Buenos Aires, Argentina Clay United States Julia Cohen 5–7, 2–6

Doubles (5–4)
Result No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1. 14 October 2007 ITF Espinho, Portugal Clay Poland Sylwia Zagórska Armenia Liudmila Nikoyan
Russia Inna Sokolova		 3–6, 6–1, [10–4]
Loss 1. 11 May 2008 ITF Michalovce, Slovakia Clay Slovakia Nikola Vajdova Slovakia Lenka Jurikova
Poland Katarzyna Piter		 1–6, 1–6
Win 2. 18 May 2008 ITF Bucharest, Romania Clay Slovakia Klaudia Boczová Romania Ioana Gașpar
Brazil Vivian Segnini		 6–2, 6–0
Win 3. 16 August 2008 ITF Iława, Poland Clay Belarus Ima Bohush South Africa Lisa Marshall
Armenia Anna Movsisyan		 6–3, 6–2
Loss 2. 6 June 2009 ITF Brno, Czech Republic Clay Slovakia Karin Morgosová Australia Sophie Ferguson
Australia Trudi Musgrave		 4–6, 1–6
Win 4. 6 March 2010 ITF Antalya, Turkey Clay Slovakia Michaela Pochabová Romania Diana Marcu
Romania Simona Matei		 6–1, 6–1
Loss 3. 18 April 2010 ITF Bol, Croatia Clay Slovakia Chantal Škamlová Romania Alexandra Cadanțu
Romania Alexandra Damaschin		 2–6, 6–1, [5–10]
Loss 4. 25 June 2011 ITF Lenzerheide, Switzerland Clay Austria Nikola Hofmanova Croatia Ani Mijačika
Switzerland Amra Sadiković		 6–4, 2–6, [4–10]
Win 5. 18 May 2012 ITF Caserta, Italy Clay Poland Katarzyna Piter Serbia Aleksandra Krunić
Switzerland Viktorija Golubic		 6–2, 6–4

Junior titles

Singles:

  • Winner (2): 2007 – Piešťany – Grade 2, Prato – Grade 2

Doubles:

  • Winner (2): 2008 – Umag – Grade 1 (w./Toljan); 2006 – Bratislava – Grade 4 (w./Tereza Budilova)

Awards
  • 2008: Junior Tennis Player of the Year in Slovak Republic

Career in review
  • 2003 – finished at No. 3 in Slovak ranking (U12)
  • 2004 – won one singles title in tournament in Slovakia, runner-up one time
  • 2005 – finished at No. 9 in Slovak ranking (U14); won five singles titles, runner-up two times
  • 2006 – finished at No. 13 in Slovak ranking (U18); won two singles titles, runner-up two times, played her first ITF junior tournament in Bratislava as WC, also won her first doubles title in junior tournament Bratislava, Grade 4
  • 2007 – finished at No. 4 in Slovak ranking (U18), won two junior tournaments Grade 2 in Pieštany (def. Lenka Juríková in final) and Prato (d. Bojanovski in final), made junior Grand Slam main-draw debut at Wimbledon, made top 100 debut in ITF ranking in May 2007, played in European Junior Championships U16, also played her first ITF tournament in Maribor, reached 1st round as qualifier (d. Anikó Kapros and Kristína Kučová in qualifying; l. to Lenka Tvarošková), won her first ITF doubles title in Espinho (w./Zagórska) in October
  • 2008 – finished at No. 1 in Slovak ranking (U18), at No. 46 in ITF ranking, at No. 588 in WTA singles ranking and at No. 481 in WTA doubles ranking, played all four junior Grand Slam tournaments: French Open – doubles SF (w./Juríková); Wimbledon – singles SF (l. to Laura Robson) – played in European Junior Championships U18, won junior doubles title Grade 1 (w./Toljan) in Umag, won one ITF singles titles in Ilawa (d. Aleksandra Rosolska in final) and two ITF doubles titles in Bucharest (w./Boczová) and Ilawa (w./Ima Bohush), was named as Junior Player of the Year 2008 in Slovakia; she also played at Wimbledon on 25 June 2008,[14] dated Grigor Dimitrov, accompanied him at Championships Dinner at Wimbledon.
  • 2009 – finished at No. 678 in WTA singles ranking and at No. 349 in WTA doubles ranking, played first WTA qualifying at tournament in Prague[15]
  • 2010 – finished at No. 808 in WTA singles ranking and at No. 619 in WTA doubles ranking, won one ITF singles title in Bournemouth (d. Lisa Whybourn in final)[16] and one ITF doubles title in Antalya (w./Michaela Pochabová). From June 2010 to March 2011, she did not play any tournaments apart from the ITF Espinho event in October 2010 because of a knee injury.
  • 2011 – finished at No. 255 in WTA singles rankings and at No. 436 in WTA doubles rankings, won four ITF singles titles in Båstad ($10k, d. Brozda in final) and hat trick in Asunción ($10k, d. Irigoyen in final; $10k, d. Schiechtl in final and $25k, d. Molinero in final), Tabak was runner-up to Scarlett Werner in the ITF tournament at Bournemouth,[17] but lost her WTA singles ranking on 9 May 2011,[18] regaining it on 23 May 2011.[19] 'Player of November' award according to the ITF.

References
  1. Adam Carr. "SLOVAK REPUBLIC LEGISLATIVE ELECTION OF 29 FEBRUARY 2020". Adam Carr's Election Archive. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  2. Fabok, Martin. "MPs Hatrakova and Tabak Expelled from OLaNO Caucus Over Their Vote on Fico | NEWS NOW". Tlačová agentúra Slovenskej republiky - TASR.sk. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  3. "MPs Tabak, Kroslak and Simko to Join We Are Family Caucus". www.tasr.sk. Tlačová agentúra Slovenskej republiky - TASR.sk. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  4. "Poslankyňa Tabák vystúpila pre darovanie migov z klubu Sme rodina". domov.sme.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  5. "Poslankyňa Tabák: Bitku začala nepríčetná Cigániková. Po mojej rane zvädla ako tulipán". Denník Štandard (in Slovak). Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  6. "Tabák dostala za bitku s Bittó Cigánikovou pokutu 30 eur". Pravda.sk (in Slovak). 27 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  7. https://www.startitup.sk/tabak-prekvapila-za-danka-nekandiduje-no-jej-tvar-sa-objavi-na-bilbordoch-sns/
  8. https://standard.sk/382153/romana-tabak-nebude-kandidovat-v-septembrovych-volbach-od-sefa-sns-dostala-inu-ponuku
  9. Anjel, Vlado (20 February 2009). "VIDEO – Romana Tabaková: Tenisoví fešáci? Gulbis a Simon! – Najlepšia juniorská tenistka Slovenska 2008 Romana Tabaková odpovedala na vaše otázky!". Čas.sk – Šport. Ringier Axel Springer Slovakia. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
  10. "Romana Tabak". Behind The Racquet. 26 January 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  11. DULTC (5 October 2017). "Today's feature is Romana Tabak!". Facebook. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  12. Romana Tabak (18 June 2019). "I miss these smart & kind sporty people!". Facebook. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  13. "A opäť tá Romana! Najprv BUJARÝ žúr, potom.. Na týchto ZÁBEROCH by ste Tabák ani NESPOZNALI!". www1.pluska.sk (in Slovak). 4 April 2022. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  14. "Wimbledon – Tuesday's order of play". Yorkshire Post. 25 June 2008. Retrieved 6 May 2010. Court 4 (12pm): Milos Raonic (Can) v (6) Henrique Cunha (Bra), Romana Tabakova (Svk) v (14) Elena Chernyakova (Rus), ...., Cindy Chala (Fra) & Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (Tha) v Katarzyna Piter (Pol) & Romana Tabakova (Svk)
  15. "ECM Prague Open 2009 – Qualifying Singles" (PDF). Archive. WTA. 19 July 2009. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
  16. "Romana won the title in Bournemouth!". Blogger. 28 April 2010. Retrieved 13 February 2011. Romana won the tournament in Bournemouth. She did take her 2nd ITF title even as qualifier! In final match she won against 6th seed Lisa Whybourn (GBR) 6–1, 6–7(7), 7–6(7). It was a really long match (almost 4 hours) but in the end Romana was luckier. Romana said after the match: "We had to play outdoor, but because of rain we did play final match on hardcourt indoor. I did start match really well, I did lead 6–1, 5–2, but then I wasted chances and match continued in tiebreak, there I have had three match balls at 6–4 and 7–6, but unfortunately I lost second set. In third set I did start better again, I did lead 4–0 and also 5–3, but Whybourn again started to play better and hit some winners. In tiebreak, I again wasted another three matchpoints at 6–4 and 7–6. By last point at 8–7, I did come to the net and Lisa send the ball into the close out. I fell down and started to cry. I don't know if that was because of I have been really exhausted or because of enjoynment. I am very happy. I really appreciate this title, it helped to me mentally. I don't know yet where I will play next. But I will do my best, I don't want waste my chances as last season."
  17. "Stephenson takes women's doubles title in Bournemouth". British Tennis. LTA. 30 April 2011. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
  18. "As of May 9, 2011". WTA Singles Rankings. WTA. 9 May 2011. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
  19. "As of May 23, 2011". WTA Singles Rankings. WTA. 23 May 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
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