Haelp retires from tennis in front of her home crowd

Following a heavy 1-6,1-6 defeat to Lucia Bronzetti in the first round of her home tournament an emotional Simona Halep announced her retirement from Tennis.

The 33-year-old former Wimbledon Champion had recently said she was considering retirement because of a knee injury that had forced her to withdraw from qualifying at last month’s Australian Open.

Talking to her home crowd, Halep said: “I’m making this decision with my soul.

“It’s a beautiful thing. I became world number one, I won Grand Slams, it’s all I wanted.

Life goes on, there is life after tennis and I hope that we will see each other again.

“I’ll come to the tennis here as often as I can and of course I will continue to play – but to be competitive it requires much more and at this moment it is no longer.”

“I’ve always been realistic with myself and with my body,” Halep said.

“Where I probably was, it’s very hard to get there and I know what it means to get there.”

Former world No. 1 Halep had struggled in her comeback following a doping ban that threatened to keep kept her out of competition for four years was reduced to 18 months.

Halep received a four-year ban for two separate doping offences after testing positive for Roxadustat  in August 2022.

The Romanian always maintained her innocence and appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2024.

The CAS ruled that “on the balance of probabilities” Halep had not intentionally taken the banned substance and the ban was commuted to nine months.

The Transylvania Open was only the current world No. 870’s third  WTA  tournament and Halep was forced to withdraw from multiple events recently due to injury.

Playing in front of a home crowd Halep had the full support of her fans but she was only able to produce a mediocre performance on the night.

Halep lost her first three Grand Slam finals, finally winning the 2018 French Open beating Sloane Stephens.

She put in a stunning performance against Serena Williams to win the 2019 Wimbledon title making just three unforced errors in a 6-2,6-2  victory.

Main photo:- Simona Halep won her first Grand Slam Title at Roland Garros in 2018 – by Roger Parker International Sports Fotos Ltd