Authors: Daniel Vlasceanu – Partner and Sorina Viziru – Junior Associate at Vlasceanu & Partners
An important amendment relevant for all RES stakeholders just entered into force on 10 June 2023
166/2023 was passed for the amendment of Law no
as well as for the completion of the Law no
50/1991 regarding the authorization of construction works (“Law no
Aiming to reduce the bureaucracy associated with the RES permitting procedures
166/2023 provides the following amendments:
The practical relevance is that now only one set of approvals must be obtained (on the basis of a single urbanism certificate) for all building permits (as opposed to the previous situation when for each building permit a different set of permits was recommendable to be obtained for each investment objective below 50 ha)
Romania is taking serious steps towards simplification of RES permitting proceedings which should reflect in the increase of high-capacity PV and wind projects
which are essential to achieve the targets assumed towards the European Union by Romania
Günther Bosch’s name appeared again in the German sports newspapers
the coach who helped the teenager Boris Becker win Wimbledon twice; Günther Bosch
one of the most important people in German tennis
which is still waiting for the next Graf and Becker; Günther Bosch
the tennis commentator and expert that German journalists regularly call
But as much as Bosch is known and revered in his country of adoption
he is virtually unknown in his native Romania
his achievements and his „legacy” – a theme he is more and more concerned with these days: can he leave something for Romanian tennis as well
the last place where Günther Bosch coached
is very special for tennis culture in Germany
Rot-Weiß (Red – White) is still somewhere between the romantic tennis era and the present
An entire sports venue – 16 courts plus the 7,000-seat Steffi Graf Stadion – is hidden on the edge of the Grunewald district to the west of Berlin
a neighborhood of large mansions built in the neoromantic style
And if there were no modern cars gliding by
Günther Bosch was born two years before the Second World War in Braşov
That town has as much in common with today’s Brașov as tennis back then had in common with the tennis played now
And if his hometown has moved from industry to tourism
his favorite sport went in the opposite direction
To follow Bosch’s path in tennis means to follow the changes that this sport has grumblingly accepted in the last 60-65 years
It is a useful exercise for anyone who wants to sneak a peek into the future of the game
because you cannot know where you are headed unless you know where you started
just like in tennis: once the possible trajectory of the ball is understood
its final destination no longer surprises you
No one could anticipate Bosch’s tennis destination
the young Bosch first stepped on a court to gather tennis balls for wealthy people of Brașov
It a was a way to make some money for sports shoes
and play a ball sport during summer,” says Bosch
a pretty good gymnast who was part of the well-known Bosch family (the company with the same name was founded in Stuttgart in 1886)
was invited by the owner Robert Bosch to a sort of competition – everyone played the sport they knew
Gunther practiced different sports until he was 15
when he had to choose between tennis and basketball
He was denied enrollment in high school because his father was not ”working class” enough (he was the head of a food warehouse near the Bartolomeu railway station)
the warehouse had some tennis courts where the young Bosch was the ball boy
a bank director living in one of the villas nearby called me and threw me a wooden racquet over the fence
It was in bad shape and I had to tie it with wire
Soon he started playing for the Red Flag Sports Club
which belonged to the factory with the same name
„I thought: since he is good at table tennis
he can’t miss the ball with the big racquet.” From there on
„My first trip abroad was to the French Open
there were riots on the streets and we were not allowed to leave the hotel.” But it was their first trip abroad
they were young and stayed right next to the Arc de Triomphe
Especially since there were so few chances to play big tournaments
three out of five set matches – and the first two or three were sent to the French Open – so by the time they got to Paris they were dead tired
The system in the pre-Open era worked on recommendations
„If you were a Davis Cup player and if you had some important victories in your resume
then you could take part in tournaments abroad
if you wanted to go to Western Europe once
because very few people traveled back then
„We were always escorted by the ”man of the system” (somebody who worked for the secret police)
all the higher-ups in the Federation told us what to bring them: nylon stockings for the wife
cigarettes and so on.” They had to live on a two-dollar allowance per day
and then filled the rest of the suitcases with canned food
so they will not have to spend the money in restaurants
no one cared if we lost (and we lost early on)
They were pleased that they received their gifts … They couldn’t wait for us to lose!”
We were wondering how those people would get up for work the next day
Günther Bosch reached all the balls and he liked to hit them flat and hard
played „moonballs” or ”junkball tennis” – as they say
„He hit the ball back until the opponent missed,” says Bosch
„I remember the first time he beat me in Cluj
I had beaten him in practice just a few days before
And in the tournament he hit the ball higher and higher until I missed
That defeat was very hard to swallow… Anyway
Tiriac was the type of man who caught on very quickly…”
And he had plenty of opportunities and people to learn from: while tennis today is by definition an individual sport
They represented the club in the team division
„The Red Flag factory hired me to work only four hours
He stood on a heap of balls coming out of the heat treatment
It was hard but he bought a tennis racquet with his first paycheck
while he pulls out a picture of Tiriac on a motorcycle: „I went with him on his motorcycle to a tournament in Sibiu
he was scared shitless of going to the doctor
He describes him as an old friend and tells you a lot of stories about their common passion
Bosch had surgery on his foot (the soles of tennis shoes was so thin that after playing two or three times the players had blisters and tears)
Tiriac carried him on his back when he was discharged from the hospital
Tiriac never called me ‘Günther’
but most of the time he called me ‘Saxon’
And later he called me ‘traitor’
Günther Bosch was not the best Romanian tennis player
and the up-and-coming Ilie Năstase and Ion Ţiriac
But he managed to come in the third place in the Davis Cup team and achieve his greatest goal: to win the Romanian International Championships
„This was the most important tournament for us.” He did it after he beat Tiriac in the semifinals and Gogu Viziru in the final
„It was a really big surprise,” says Bosch
„because people believed Viziru was unbeatable then.”
He does not remember exactly how long he continued to play tennis after this success
The topic for his diploma exam was the psychology of the tennis game
„I did a psychological analysis of the serve: mentally
What must go through his head to make his serve a major weapon
It was a great thesis.” It was translated into German and Czech
and Bosch was invited to present it at several seminars in Moscow
„Everyone was surprised because there were descriptions of the serve from a technical or tactical point of view
but not from a psychological point of view.”
He was interested in this topic because his serve was his his weakest shot
It was too late for Bosch the player to take advantage of the new knowledge
but Bosch the coach was going to profit from it
Bosch was quickly appointed as a state coach (federal
I was not allowed to sit on the bench during the Davis Cup ties and they kept telling me: ‘if you want this
you have to change your name to Boşescu.’ ” I did not accept
and Bosch began to think seriously about leaving the country
when the Federation challenged him to win the position of coach for the Galea Cup
one of the most popular junior competitions of the time
„The Federation told us that the coach who managed to find four juniors good enough to represent Romania at the Galea Cup will accompany the team abroad.” Bosch took his boys from the Red Flag
found someone else from Constanța and took them all to Tennis Club Bucharest
„They were so good that the Federation had no choice but to allow us to represent Romania at the Galea Cup.”
and Bosch – who could easily prove his German origins – remained there
I gave them all the receipts and told them I was going to stay in Germany to play some senior tournaments
Perhaps some of them suspected something … ”
was already known in the country that continued its economic development started after the end of World War II
the president of the German Tennis Federation called me immediately and asked me to come to Hanover (their headquarters)
They needed a federal coach from the beginners to the juniors
and I could train the seniors team in Hannover
I could not believe it.” But if Bosch’s coaching problems were solved now
Immediately after leaving Romania Bosch was sentenced
she had to listen to what they were saying about me
Every week she was called to the Securitate headquarters (the Romanian secret police) and was pressed to say if she had known I was going to defect
she would have gone to prison right away.” Their apartment was confiscated and both his wife and daughter had to start from scratch without him
Instead they had a stranger in front of the house who followed them around
For three years they were separated and Bosch did everything in his power to bring them to Germany
„I wrote letters to all ministers in Germany
and the only one who answered was (Helmuth) Kohl
He told me he would first visit (Iosip) Tito in Yugoslavia
and after that he was going to Bucharest and would try to present my case to Ceausescu.”
Kohl said that Bosch’s family would be in Germany in two weeks
knowing full well that all the conversations were recorded
They could not believe it: she had been summoned to interrogation just one day before and was told to ask for a divorce
she and their daughter suddenly received the paperwork for traveling
I have been working 12 hours a day and you can buy whatever you want
in a few days I went to Frankfurt and picked them up from the airport
he had to quickly shake off his Romanian coaching habits and learn how to work with German players
„In Romania I pushed my players very
if they did not move properly on the baseline
Being a coach meant being a kind of dictator.” In Germany
he had to learn the democratic style and turn from a dictator into a mediator
as he did in the Romanian mountains; he did not punish his players with herculean tasks
he did not ask them to climb ten times in a row to the top of snow-covered fir trees just because one of them broke curfew
he applied some of the old training methods and added all the advantages of Germany’s prosperity and openness: equipment
the main federal coach was Richard Schönborn
He worked for more than 25 years in the Deutscher Tennis Bund (DTB) and he published many tennis books
And after one of the winter camps where the German team prepared for the King’s Cup (launched by King Gustav V of Sweden in the 1930s and cancelled in 1985
a sort of indoor Davis Cup) the players rebelled
and Schönborn comes back from the holiday and wants to take over
DTB made the switch: Bosch accompanied the team to Essen for the King’s Cup
and Schönborn went to coach the juniors in Hanover
At a time when France played with Yannick Noah and Henri Leconte
Sweden had Joakim Nyström and Stefan Edberg
and Britain and the other countries participated with their best players
Bosch led his team to two King’s Cups (Germany has won a total of four trophies)
„I remember that in one of the finals we defeated the Czechs
the world’s number one,” says Bosch
His results in King’s Cup recommended him for the position of Davis Cup coach
For a guy who had not been accepted on the Romanian Davis Cup team
after five years of successfully coaching the German Davis Cup team
It was Schönborn’s turn to take over the men’s team
and Bosch was to work with the Fed Cup female team
„At the time we had three female German players in the top 10 and one of them had won the Masters tournament in New York
„I don’t need to torment women with my style.” I wanted to stay with the men’s team
Many people urged him to use his prestige to start a private tennis school
I took four juniors and worked with them until some of them broke through
And I was lucky that the Federation accepted my proposal
the whole training system was well established
The federal coaches had to conduct a trial each fall for the kids who wanted to be accepted into the Federation training camp
At one of these trials in southern Germany
he saw and selected Becker for the first time
Boris Becker started to play tennis at the Baden Tennis Center in Leimen
a suburb of Heidelberg (Baden-Württemberg)
Everyone knows he trained there with Boris Breskvar
one of West Germany’s most renowned coaches
but Becker’s discovery is very controversial
Bosch has a newspaper cut-off from October 7
1976: a picture of him together with Schönborn
Boris Becker (nine) and Steffi Graf (eight)
„but the head coach said he was not ready for the national team and he should keep training within the local federation.” At the following meeting
attended by all 13 federations of the German Länder
Bosch stood up and once again proposed Becker
„But what are your arguments?” he was asked
because in the data sheet he had written that Boris was too fat and barely moved
those kids who tried for the team came prepared
Becker could only manage 30; he was among the last in the 30-meter sprint
But I thought he had a tremendous discipline in hitting the ball; he had a special look
he did not care; he was focused on the ball and the movement needed to send the ball where he wanted
He had special psychological qualities; he may not have known how to run
but he knew when the opponent was about to hit a short ball and left early
so he got to all of them.” They accepted him
the kid they laughed at when he was struggling to get to a ball and threw tantrums
had entered the accelerating environment of the German Federation
„But I was with the Davis Cup team too
You felt pity when the others laughed at him
but he took his revenge when they were playing soccer or hockey: he would break them all
when Bosch completed that group of four young men by selecting Boris
And even then he did not receive special treatment because Bosch treated his entire group the same way
I’ve got this idea from an Australian coach that is said to have been the best of all time: Harry Hopman.” Bosch thought that if one of the four will break through
And he saw in Becker qualities that others did not have
„To become a great player you have to play differently
they stand on the baseline and hit the ball over the net until the opponent misses
” But to have results against players like Borg
Bosch knew Becker had to do something different
looking for the best service motion for him
I do not know if you remember but Becker was landing with his right foot in front of his left
I had been looking for a service motion that suited Boris
and this extra step allowed him to get to the net faster
Vilas ranked in the top 10 between 1974 and 1982
and won four Grand Slam tournaments over the same period
„Tiriac and I met and talked on the tour
you’re a coach in the country with the greatest financial resources
it’s impossible not to find a promising German junior.” Tiriac wanted to expand into Germany
But for that he needed a great player,” says Bosch
where the junior tournament was played at the same time as the seniors
who was playing a close match against another Bosch player
and looked more like a football goalkeeper than a tennis player
But Tiriac changed his mind a few days later when the same Boris Becker
„He told me I may be right about Becker
and he asked me to contact Boris’ parents.” That was not a simple matter
since Becker was already courted by agencies such as IMG (and its influential founder
He told them that unlike the agencies that have hundreds of players
Tiriac – who only travels with Vilas – could focus only on him
Boris would not risk becoming one among many
„But when they saw Tiriac for the first time
they told me he looked like a carpet salesman
When they announced that Boris was withdrawing and Bosch resigned as a federal coach
the sports director replied that this was not possible
that they had invested a lot of money in Becker
that it was somewhere around 25,000 marks per year
„I’m not allowed to receive a check
that is not legal in Germany.” Bosch was surprised by Tiriac’s gesture
but the Federation had no choice but to accept the separation from Becker
on the condition that Boris play a Davis Cup match without pay
I had another problem: I had a very profitable contract with the Federation
but what Tiriac offered me at first was a quarter of what I was getting from them
Everyone told me that I was crazy: ‘How can you leave the Federation when you have a lifelong contract
You will go away and only work with this crazy man?’ – that is
” Bosch knows it would be easy now to say that he always knew Boris would win Wimbledon
but the truth was that neither he nor Tiriac could be sure Becker would become a great player
Bosch remembers a doubles final that Becker played in London when he was still a junior
„He played with (Emilio) Sánchez against Lendl and (Andres) Gomez
I think they were number one and number five in the world
he would not have been able to hit a single ball
Boris played an incredible match and the public went crazy
He only cared about the ball coming his way and how to hit a winner off it
On such clues did Bosch base his decision to work with Becker
but those around him only saw it for what it was: a very risky move
Bosch and Tiriac signed a partnership agreement in 1984 at Roland Garros
Bosch barely received a quarter of the money he had received from the German Federation
and Becker’s performance was very up and down
So we made that trip to lose in qualifications
where at that time the tournament was played on grass
he gets to the quarterfinals after beating (Guy) Forget
and Tiriac says “This I can sell: such a young junior makes the quarterfinals in the mens’ tournament.” He got deals with Rot-Weiß Berlin
and of course I had a percentage of the prize money and the contracts
things were looking good for Günther Bosch
You cannot talk to Bosch without touching on Becker’s success at Wimbledon
But in his first appearance on the main draw in 1984
who was not yet 17 years old and had come through qualifying
had to withdraw in the first round against Bill Scanlon after an ankle injury
Bosch recalls that they carried him off the court on a stretcher and
„At first he did not even want to take painkillers
But Becker wanted to come back so quickly that he resumed his daily training even though he had his foot in a cast
and he wore a metallic heel to be able to play
Bosch also took him to a few tournaments in Austria
Germany and Switzerland to keep in touch with the competition
and all the efforts were worth it: Boris came back at the US Open junior tournament and looked good for the next season
Now it is in the fourth round against Tim Mayotte
after he managed to squeeze by in the previous match
and at the end of the fourth set Boris trips as he had the year before
You can see Becker telling Bosch and Tiriac
who were seated behind the umpire’s chair
Tim Mayotte was still far back on the court
leaning against the tarp and Bosch had time to yell at Boris to ask for the physiotherapist
but he changed his mind and sat down.”
the doctor could not reach Becker during that break
Bosch told him to keep on playing and go for broke on every shot
a guy with high tolerance for pain – he steps on his foot twice
gets on the court and turns the match around
Everybody in Germany wondered: if he had withdrawn from this match
would he have had the career he had?” Bosch cannot answer this question
„many said he was too young to win at the age of 17
Becker played the final against the American Kevin Curren
the 8th seed who had brushed aside McEnroe and Connors
becoming the youngest Wimbledon champion – 17 years and seven months
who had helped him get there in record time
In Becker’s life there was now a girl: Benedicte Courtin
who had already begun to realize that he could no longer expect Becker to carry on with the same strict life regimen as before
I spent only five days at home with my wife and my daughter
So I realized it was natural for him to have a romantic relationship and I explained to him how I see this
we told him what love means … ” But the love of a 17-year-old star is not simple
and Bosch learned this pretty quickly when Boris met a tennis player in America and started a close relationship with her
And it was not the only complication: after Boris’s first Wimbledon
Tiriac wanted to get involved in his coaching
I cannot say a bad word about his behavior until Boris’s first Wimbledon title
He takes off his watch and shows us the engraving: Günther Bosch
but my house got broken into and very few remained.” Then he returns to Tiriac
tried to convince Becker that his style of play will never work on clay
„He said he needed to hit with more topspin
boom!” Bosch’s theory was different – no matter the surface
Becker was stuck in the middle and did not know what to do
He lost in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros against an average player
because we were there to win the tournament
Boris did not know how to play anymore and he blamed Tiriac for his confusion.” Bosch
who left with Becker for London to prepare the grass season
says Tiriac was not allowed to approach them anymore
because his mind was no longer focused on tennis
he asked Bosch for permission to go to Monte Carlo
„There was just one week until Wimbledon
He tells me that if I let him go – it was Friday – he will take the first plane back on Monday and will do everything I tell him in practice
but you realize if Tiriac finds out what’s going on…”
Bosch recalls Tiriac’s reaction vividly
They were in the elevator when he told him and thought Tiriac would destroy it with his fists
„He is cursing and he tells me that if Boris loses here early
Boris played and won his second Wimbledon in a dominant fashion
who had skipped all the clay tournaments to prepare for Wimbledon
slapped my back so hard I nearly fell over the people in front of me
and all that was written after the first Wimbledon was now blown up tenfold
The press used expressions as „this golden trio” to describe the relationship between Tiriac
but Bosch says their relationship has not been the same since then
Tiriac was unable to reconcile with Becker
trying to explain to Boris that he could not do that
I started having problems with Becker,” says Bosch
where Boris played semifinals against Stefan Edberg
„I told him that the only way you can pass this guy when he comes to the net is by hitting topspin lobs
and suddenly Becker walks towards the video camera and shouts Scheiß Trainer
And I tell Tiriac: „If he calls me that one more time
I will not put up with this.” But he gets to the tiebreak
How long could one put up with that?”
immediately after Boris’s loss in the fourth round at the Australian Open
the fantastic team that had Becker in the center
Only a few months had passed since the second Wimbledon title won by the blond wonder kid
Becker introduced them only later in his autobiography: he was tired of the parental image of his coach
Bosch says „there was no suffering nor joy
Most of Bosch’s story after the breakup with Becker revolved around the search for a second Boris
„In Germany everyone was waiting for a second Becker
And there has always been a buzz around my players – who is going to make it?” Bosch had enough candidates
Christian Saceanu was born in Cluj-Napoca and emigrated to Germany at the age of 14
He was one of the youngest prospects in the new four-player group after Becker
he won the national junior championships and became world leader in his age category
and the world had every reason to talk about the next star of German tennis
But Bosch knew that Saceanu was made of a different cloth from Becker
„Saceanu was able to practice for eight hours and ask me if it was enough
to get away from the people filling the stands
the stands were full because the world was waiting for the second Boris
But that Boris had been interested only in the ball coming his way
Another player in Bosch’s group was Andrew Ilie
Bosch says he did not have many players with a better forehand than his
„And I have coached a few people in my day!” He thinks that the best of all was Markus Gabriel
an Argentinian of German origin who got to 36 in the world rankings in 1992
Bosch thinks Markus would have gone up even if he was not an … „a**.” He says it in jest
Markus Gabriel played terrific tennis – I think he won against three or four top 10 players – but he did not have that desire to win
Bosch thinks the will to win is the most important thing on the tennis court
„Dinu Pescariu was also in my team – it was called Panasonic at that time
We had gone from four players of similar level to two seniors and two juniors.” They all practiced together
But Pescariu – with whom he started working after he made the semifinals in the Roland Garros junior tournament – did not have that desire that distinguishes the good players from the excellent ones
says he could write a book about all the pranks pulled by young Dinu
He realized then that the times were changing and that it would be more and more difficult to develop the kind of relationship he had with Becker at the beginning of 1985
„I have lived with this pressure from all Germany: the second Becker
And I thought I could have a second Becker
he will probably still be the only German player who won Wimbledon three times … twice with me
But this reputation has not reached Romania
because Bosch has not returned here too often after the fall of communism in 1989
he has often thought about his hometown and the country he left
but the requests from the Romanian press do not come
I was coaching with the stick in my hand; I was asking you to climb the Tâmpa hill ten times
But maybe tomorrow I won’t be anymore
Bosch’s intention was that after everything he had done for his players
He worked for seven years with Adrian Marcu at a tennis academy he founded along with other coaches at Bernau Wandlitz
one of the coaches who recently worked with Simona Halep
that I will leave the academy in their hands.”
and Bosch got out of that business in circumstances he wants to forget
where they both made a name for themselves coaching the female players who have turned Romania into a tennis superpower in the last five years
„I am happy for them and always wished them well
before pulling out some of the main draws of the tournaments in progress covered with scores
Cele mai bune jucătoare de tenis sunt la Singapore. Cei mai buni generatori de vânzări online sunt în Affiliate Ranking by 2Performant
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