The American press was completely surprised by a revelation made by Simona Halep.
In a recent interview, Simona said she did not know she would retire from tennis permanently when she stepped onto the court in the match against Lucia Bronzetti at the Transylvania Open.
Our athlete stated that she made this decision during the match, realizing she could no longer keep up with the pace.
This revelation surprised the journalists at Tennis World USA, who expressed total astonishment.
"Simona Halep shocks with a confession about retirement! The athlete made a bombshell revelation about the decision taken in February," wrote Tennis World USA.
"I didn't decide to retire before stepping onto the court in Cluj-Napoca. I had been thinking about it for a while, but it wasn't decided when I entered the court that I would retire in that match. But I felt that my place was no longer there. I felt it physically, I had knee problems and it hurt. So after losing the first set, I made the decision and said: I'm stopping after this!" was the statement made by Simona Halep.
Simona Halep had an impressive career in tennis. She won two Grand Slam titles, Roland Garros 2018 and Wimbledon 2019, played in three other finals (two at Roland Garros and one at the Australian Open). Simona was the world number one in the WTA rankings for 64 weeks.
In 2022, Simona Halep tested positive for Roxadustat, after a match played in the first round at the US Open against Daria Snigur on August 29. Since then, a dark period began for Simona. Initially, ITIA imposed a four-year suspension on the Romanian, reduced to just nine months by TAS.
Halep returned to tennis in March 2024, after a year and a half on the sidelines, provisionally suspended, awaiting the ITIA verdict. Since then, Simona Halep has played six matches and won only one, against Arina Rodionova in Hong Kong in October 2024, and she retired at the beginning of 2025.