Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep introduced her retirement from tennis at age 33 after a first-round loss at a event in her residence nation of Romania on Tuesday, ending an injury-filled comeback from a doping suspension.
Halep used a microphone to deal with the gang in Cluj-napoca, Romania, following her 6-1, 6-1 loss to Lucia Bronzetti within the Transylvania Open.
That was the primary match of the 12 months 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 event 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 U.S. Open. That was the place Halep misplaced within the first spherical to Daria Snigur of Ukraine 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 and examined constructive for the banned drug Roxadustat.
Roxadustat was accepted to be used within the European Union in 2021 to deal with the signs of anemia attributable to continual 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 may have expired in 2026. However she appealed, and the Courtroom of Arbitration for Sport lowered the penalty to 9 months in March 2024.
She argued that she was uncovered to a contaminated complement that precipitated her failed take a look at. CAS decided that Halep bore “some stage 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 mentioned, “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.
