Senator Nastase?

Former Romanian tennis champion Ilie Nastase - at one time one of the highest-earning players in Europe - has announced he will run for a seat in parliament.

The player once seen as the bad boy of tennis, with a talent for drama as well as the racket, said on Wednesday he will stand in the Bucharest by-election for a seat in the Romanian Senate.

Nastase, who is now 67, will be a candidate for the Conservative Party, a small group that is part of the left-leaning governing coalition.