A champion could be only the one, who really want to be. And the one who knows the great expectations and is ready to meet them - no matter what happens. A bright example is Manuela Maleeva, who won two titles ath this years European Championship for Girls U14 (in singles and doubles with sister Katerina). It is not only the greates success of the Bulgarian Tennis ever, but an award for the players and their coach - their mother Julia Berberyan, the 9th times champion of Bulgaria.

When we sent them to Bloa (France), we knew that they will come back with medals. This was quite expected due to the good results of Manuela in some of the best junior tournaments such as " Bonfilio", "Avenire", etc. What thy did, however, overpassed our expectations. The two gold medals and the first place of Katya in the "lost" tournament lead Bulgaria to the fifth place after West Germany, France and Sweeden, surpassing countries like Italy, the Netherlands, the Chech Republic and Switzerland, who are traditionaly among the first.

More about their performance we learned yesterday, when they came back to Sofia. Manuela and Katya were happy but silent in the same time. As though they couldn't belive the success had turned to reality. Their mother, proud with what was achieved, was quite chattive: "In the girls event there were players from more than 20 countries. Manuela was without rivlery at all - in five matches lost only 18 games. To take the doubles title Manuela and Katerina had defeated 6-2 5-7 6-1 Mildivskaya/Fateeva (USSR)