Simona Halep, the two-time grand slam winner and former world number 1, announced retirement on February 4, 2025, at the age of 33. He had been in the game since 2005 and she had previously pulled out of major titles like the Australian Open last month because of her physical issues.
She announced her retirement after losing the first match at the Transylvania Open in Cluj because of her knee and shoulder pain, earlier, she also delayed the start of her season because of it.
“I don’t know if it’s with sadness or joy; I think I feel both, but I make this decision with my soul at peace, I have always been realistic with myself,”
“Who knows whether I will return but at the moment it is the last time that I play here. I don’t want to cry, it is a beautiful thing, I became world number one, I won Grand Slams, it is everything I ever wanted. Life moves on, there is life after tennis too.” Halep told the crowd at BT Arena.
In light of her recent retirement, let’s take a moment to honour her legacy.
Early Life Of Simona Halep
Simona Halep was born in 1991 in Romania. Her father played lower-division football, and her brother also played tennis as a young boy, although he stopped playing. This reflects the family’s common interest in sports. Halep started playing at the age of 4, and her father began supporting her because of the lack of his own parent’s support when he played football.
Although her primary focus was tennis, she also played football and handball. As a result of her practising on beaches, she was sponsored by Corneliu Idu, the owner of the most famous tennis club in Constanța. She moved away with her family to Bucharest when she was 16 to get professional training.
Simona Halep Career Highlight
During her junior years, she won 4 ITF singles events in 2006. She grabbed her first Junior Grand Slam title in the French Open and then the second one in 1974. She’s the only Romanian girl to win two grand slap titles. She started her professional career and became WTA top 100 in mere 4 years.
One of the most significant achievements of her career was becoming world no. 2 in August 2014 in the Wimbledon semi-finals. She became World No. 1 in 2017 during the WTA finals even after defeating Maria Sharapova. Though later she was defeated, she still finished the season as World Number 1. Halep bagged the French Open title in 2018 and Wimbledon the following year.
During 2020-21, she won 3 WTA titles but had to lose upcoming leagues because of an injury in her calf muscle. She dropped out of the top 10 but made it up by winning the Canadian Open and Melbourne Summer Set 1 both in 2022.
Simona Halep Doping Ban: Fall from Grace
In October 2022, Halep tested positive using banned substant in the US Open, hence the cause for her 4-year ban from tennis. She was supposed to return in 2026. However, she appealed to the Court of Arbitration in 2024, where the court ruled in her favour.
She was cleared for immediate return from her ban and received a wild card entry for the Miami Open. Regarding her controversy, she said,
“I am at peace. I know I didn’t do anything wrong in tennis, and I am clean, so I wasn’t mentally affected at all, but it did take me out of commission,”.
The doping ban was a major setback in her career as she got out of form during the period. She has already suffered from several injuries before, which contributed to her loss. She participated in the Miami Open, where she lost the very first match of the tournament. She was also offered a wildcard entry in the Australian Open. However, she withdrew after experiencing knee pain. She announced retirement after losing the first match in the ongoing Transylvania Open to Lucia Bronzetti.
Achievements of Simona Halep
- Won the French Open title in 2018
- Won the Wimbledon title in 2019
- Finished World Number 1 twice in 2017 and 2018
- Stayed in WTA Top 10 for 373 consecutive weeks
- Bagged 9 WTA 1000 titles from 2015 to 2022
- Won 24 career singles titles on the WTA tour
- Awarded the WTA Most Popular Player of the Year award in 2014 and 2015
- Won $40 million in prize money during her career
