Breazu Finds New Home In Eugene

Vlad Breazu left his native Romania last year to pursue his dream of a professional tennis career, a journey that brought him to the University of Oregon.

Little did he know, in joining the Oregon athletics family, Breazu was going to find a little piece of home when he got to Eugene.

Just a few weeks into his career with the UO men’s tennis program, Breazu found himself face-to-face with another Duck of Romanian descent. When former Oregon basketball star Sabrina Ionescu visited Eugene to host her annual camp for local kids, and to appear on ESPN’s “College GameDay,” she also took some time to meet with Breazu.

Nico Grasu, the brother of former UO football standout Hroniss Grasu, also was in Eugene, to help host Ionescu’s camp. For several minutes, Ionescu and Grasu chatted with Breazu in his native language, discussing his path to Oregon and what he will experience competing in the Pac-12 Conference.

When he was deciding where to play in college, Breazu noted that Ionescu had played for the Ducks. Now he’s part of the same athletics family as a national icon.

“In Romania, people love her,” Breazu said. “She’s achieved so much for us, and her being from Romania, it makes everyone proud.”

As he sets off on his Oregon career, Breazu hopes he too can one day make friends and family back home proud. He left Romania to test himself at higher levels, first in Spain over the past year and now in the United States. But he wants to bring honor to his home country, just as Ionescu has.

“Hopefully I can achieve some good,” Breazu said.

For the first few years of his life, it seemed like that most likely would happen in karate or swimming or soccer — the sports Breazu first tried as a kid. His family was athletic, but of all the sports his father had played, tennis wasn’t among them.

Then, a club opened up in the city Breazu lived, about an hour outside the capitol of Bucharest. He and a friend asked to go play. Quickly, karate and swimming and soccer were no longer as high on Breazu’s list of priorities.

He loved that tennis tested him mentally in a different way than a team sport did. It took advantage of his natural quickness. And it tapped into a tenacious fighting spirit.

“I never give up on a match, even if I’m down,” Breazu said. “Even if I’m not playing my best that day, I’m trying to find a way to win.”

It didn’t take long for Breazu to show off that spirit in the green and yellow. At the ITA All-American in early October, Breazu won a two-and-a-half-hour marathon…