Simona Halep’s retirement from tennis at the Transylvania Open in Cluj Napoca this month had a certain synchronicity. Cluj (as the locals call it) is a 600 kilometre or so drive from Halep’s seaside hometown of Constanta on the Black Sea. Her journey to this ending in front of adoring Romanian fans was bittersweet to say the least.
Lucia Bronzetti of Italy won their first round match easily 6-1, 6-1 in Cluj, but the score line was largely irrelevant for the 33-year old Halep. An ongoing knee problem afflicting her over the past twelve months had brought her to the conclusion that the stresses of professional tennis were now beyond her.
Somewhat diminutive in stature, but not heart, and blessed with wonderfully produced ground strokes, she was also widely admired throughout her near 18 year professional career for her humility and honesty.
Of course, the peaks of Halep’s career were her victories at the 2018 French Open and 2019 Wimbledon Championships.
Indeed, she will be remembered mostly for her stunning victory over Serena Williams in that 2019 Wimbledon – a 6-2, 6-2 romp in just 56 minutes. Halep virtually could not miss that afternoon in SW19 and fulfilled her girlhood dream of winning on the grass at the All England Club.
The triumph allowed Halep to enter the record books as the first Romanian to win a Wimbledon singles title. The victory in the title match against Williams was remarkable as Halep committed an astonishingly low three unforced errors (while producing 14 winners). Williams, the 23-time winner, had suffered her most one-sided loss in a Grand Slam final.
Seeded 7, Halep lost just one set for the fortnight (to her Fed Cup teammate Mihaela Buzarnescu). Her run to the final was highlighted by emphatic wins over Victoria Azarenka in the third round and Elina Svitolina in the semis.
Astonishingly, Halep’s only previous win over Williams was in the round robin at the 2014 WTA Championships in Singapore. That victory was clinched by an even more stunning 6-0, 6-2 scoreline although Williams would get revenge in the final by a similar margin.
The Romanian’s career was punctuated by those two major singles titles, ownership of the World No. 1 ranking for 64 total weeks and 24 career WTA singles titles. However, the final stage of her career was consumed by a hugely contentious case surrounding the use of a banned substance ultimately decided by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in March 2024.
The CAS ultimately determined on the balance of probabilities that Halep had ingested traces of a banned blood boosting substance, Roxadustat, at the 2022 US Open as result of using a contaminated nutritional supplement. Additional charges brought by the tennis anti-doping authority pertaining to alleged irregularities in her biological passport were dismissed by the CAS.
As a consequence, the CAS reduced Halep’s initial ban of four years to nine months. She actually spent 17 months contesting the case after a number of delays in the initial hearing.
The supplement in question had been originally recommended by a member of her fitness team under new coach Patrick Mouratoglou in 2022. Mouratoglou has expressed much regret that Halep’s career was derailed during that time.
A Roland Garros 2008 Junior champion, the 2013 season proved to be Halep’s breakthrough year as she collected an astonishing six WTA Tour titles.
In 2014, she entered Roland Garros as the 4th seed and didn’t drop a set on her way to her first major final. A commanding 6-2, 6-2 quarter final win over 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova was the highlight of her run. Halep, then 22, played valiantly against Maria Sharapova, the Roland Garros winner in 2012, in the final but was eventually edged out 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 after well over three hours of intense play.
Renowned coach Darren Cahill joined her coaching team the following year. It was a working relationship that would last on and off for six years. They formed a strong personal bond and Cahill always stood by her steadfastly after the positive drug test of 2022.
Halep would return to the Roland Garros final in 2017 as a strong favourite against the surprise finalist Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia.
She methodically built a 6-4, 3-0 lead before the 20 year-old Ostapenko reeled off a dramatic comeback laced with high octane winners to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. It was an opportunity painfully spurned for the more experienced Romanian who admitted afterwards she had become cautious with the finish line in sight.
Halep’s next opportunity in a major final arrived at the 2018 Australian Open. She was top seed but had to negotiate an arduous path. She suffered an ankle sprain in an opening round scare against local Destanee Aiava and still suffering the effects barely survived a marathon third round match against Lauren Davis 4-6, 6-4, 15-13 (saving three match points).
Following subsequent wins over Naomi Osaka and Karolina Pliskova, Halep then played 2016 Australian Open winner Angelique Kerber in the semis. It was arguably the match of the tournament, such was the quality of the tennis. Halep eventually prevailed 6-4, 3-6, 9-7 after saving two more match points.
Caroline Wozniacki awaited her in the final on an extremely humid night at Rod Laver Arena. Wozniacki, the Danish 2nd seed, was expected to have a stamina advantage due to her easier run to the final.
After the first two sets were split, Halep recovered from an early loss of serve in the decider to break Wozniacki consecutive times. Leading 4-3 and serving, Halep was within touching distance of the trophy. However, after a Wozniacki injury time out, the momentum changed and the Dane broke Halep consecutively herself to win 7-6, 3-6, 6-4.
Halep was not only devastated emotionally by the loss, but also had to check herself into hospital during the night due to dehydration from the humidity.
Subsequently, she entered Roland Garros in 2018 still as the world No. 1, but with an 0-3 record in major finals to overcome. Losing the opening set in the first round to Alison Riske was quickly shrugged off and soon Halep was to face Kerber (again), this time in the quarters. Halep would withstand the loss of a first set tie breaker to roll over the top of Kerber 6-7, 6-3, 6-2.
She then produced her best tennis of the tournament dispatching the 3rd seed and 2016 Roland Garros champion Garbine Muguruza 6-1, 6-4 in the semi.
In her fourth appearance in a major final, Halep would confront the reigning US Open title holder Sloane Stephens. The first set was won promptly 6-3 by Stephens, and Halep had little room for error serving at 4-4 in the second. But she found another gear, held and then broke serve to level the match.
Halep never let go of the momentum in the final set and dropped just one game to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 and deservedly end her wait for a Grand Slam singles championship.
Speaking on court in Cluj after her final match, Halep touched on not knowing whether to feel joy or sadness at her retirement. She did know, however, that she was making the right decision to finish.
“I’ve always been realistic with myself and with my body. Where I probably was (World No. 1), it’s very hard to get there and I know what it means to get there. That’s why I wanted to come here today in Cluj to play in front of you and say goodbye.
“Even though my performance wasn’t very good, it was still my soul and I’m very glad you came, and I’ll wonder if I’ll come back again. But for now it’s the last time I’ve played here and I don’t want to cry.
“It’s a beautiful thing. I became World No 1, 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.”
