Maria Patrascu is a professional tennis player who has two ITF professional doubles titles to her name. She is perhaps better known for her work advocating the rights of other professionals involved in the sport.

The 22-year-old was featured in the New York Times discussing her objections to the I.T.F’s (one of four governing bodies in tennis) planned introduction of complicated rules to restructure the sport’s lower levels. She viewed them as detrimental to budding tennis players’ careers. She famously led many professionals in a somewhat successful petition against the new regulations.

Born in Bucharest, Romania, she moved to Toronto with her parents when she was only five years old. She showed promise as a junior, taking home the crown for the Canadian under-14 championship. She continued to work hard and eventually turned professional at 18, managing to reach a world ranking of 647, a career high. She now concentrates on social media and writing in a broad range of subjects. She often shares her personal experiences from her time as a professional tennis player and can usually be found promoting fashion brands on her Instagram account. Patrascu has amassed a substantial following on Instagram with over 60k followers. Also, she regularly writes about health, tennis, and travel-related topics on her blog, mariapatrascu.com.

Her charitable work sees her involved in Tennis for All Uganda. She recently held a Q&A session with a coach from the Ugandan organization trying to provide impoverished youth with opportunities to play tennis and live happier, healthier lifestyles.