Quote:
Originally Posted by juki
It's nuts. Does anyone know much about Barbat's father? Has he had past issues?
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Karen Barbat's dad Mihai Barbat was stopped by security guards at the 2010 e-Boks Sony Ericsson Open (a.k.a. Wozniacki Open) when he tried to drive away from the venue while he was drunk. He was then arrested by the police for drunk driving. Maybe that's why Mihai and Karen Barbat was not at the 2011 Wozniacki Open.
At the 2010 Wozniacki Open Karen's 13-year-old younger brother Alex Barbat who's also a talented tennis player himself was Karen's on-court coach. I was surpsied to see such a young on-court coach and not her usual coach, her dad. But maybe he had already been arrested for drunk driving and that's why her brother was coaching her instead?
As the second highest ranked Danish player Karen would normally be sure to get a MD WC or qualifier WC but she was not even playing the qualifiers this year.
The Barbat's stopped all co-operation with the Danish tennis federation years ago when Mihai Barbat has some disagreements with the federation. But Karen has since strated playing Fed Cup for Denmark in 2011 under the Danish Fed Cup captain Michael Mortensen who's also Li Na's new coach.
Mihai Barbat is originally from Romania but left for Denmark as a refugee. 3 years later Karen was born in Denmark. She first picked up tennis when they traveled back to visit Romania when she was 6. The German minority in Transylvania has a tennis complex where their kids plays and a friend invited Mihai to bring along Karen and this is where Karen tried to play tennis for the first time.
Sources in Danish:
http://ekstrabladet.dk/sport/anden_s...cle1598532.ece
http://www.fyens.dk/article/56524:Sp...verdensstjerne