Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep introduced her retirement from tennis at age 33 after a first-round loss at a match in her dwelling nation of Romania on Tuesday, ending an injury-filled comeback from a doping suspension.
“I do not know if it is with unhappiness or pleasure — I believe I am feeling each — however my soul is at peace with this determination, and I’ve at all times been real looking with myself. My physique can now not deal with as a lot because it used to, to get me the place I most likely as soon as was,” Halep stated, utilizing a microphone to deal with the group in Cluj, Romania, following her 6-1, 6-1 loss to Lucia Bronzetti within the Transylvania Open.
“It’s totally laborious to succeed in that degree, and I do know what it takes to get there,” Halep stated. “That is why I wished to be right here right now, in Cluj, to play in entrance of you and say goodbye on the tennis court docket, even when my efficiency wasn’t nice.”
It was the primary match of the yr for Halep, who reached No. 1 within the WTA rankings for the primary time in 2017 however is now 870th and was given a wild-card invitation to play in Romania.
She had pulled out of qualifying for the Australian Open and a tuneup match in Auckland, New Zealand, final month due to ache in her knee and shoulder, the newest interruption of her profession.
Halep as soon as stood atop ladies’s tennis, profitable main singles trophies at Wimbledon in 2019 by beating Serena Williams within the closing and on the French Open in 2018 by beating Sloane Stephens within the closing.
She additionally was a three-time runner-up at Grand Slam tournaments — on the Australian Open in 2018 and the French Open in 2014 and 2017.
However her final look at a serious occasion got here on the 2022 US Open. That was the place Halep misplaced within the first spherical to Daria Snigur of Ukraine 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 and examined optimistic for the banned drug Roxadustat.
Roxadustat was permitted to be used within the European Union in 2021 to deal with the signs of anemia brought on by persistent kidney failure. It stimulates the physique to provide extra of the pure hormone erythropoietin, or EPO, which has lengthy been a doping product favored by cyclists and distance runners to spice up stamina.
Halep initially was given a four-year ban that will have expired in 2026. However she appealed, and the Courtroom of Arbitration for Sport diminished the penalty to 9 months in March 2024.
She argued that she was uncovered to a contaminated complement that brought on her failed check. CAS decided that Halep bore “some degree of fault or negligence” for not exercising “ample care” whereas utilizing the complement, however “she bore no important fault or negligence.” So that’s the reason, CAS stated, “her anti-doping rule violations weren’t intentional.”
Halep made her return to the tour later that month on the Miami Open however has performed a complete of solely six matches since then.
She leaves the game with 24 singles titles and greater than $40 million in prize cash.
“To be aggressive once more requires way more, and at this second, it is now not attainable,” Halep stated Tuesday. “I do not need to cry — that is one thing stunning. I reached world No. 1, I gained Grand Slams; it is all the things I ever wished.”
