Simona Halep Admits To Considering Retirement Amid Prolonged Injury Struggles
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Simona Halep might not continue competing for too much longer, as the Romanian player admitted she has considered retiring from the sport.
Halep's career hasn't been anything that she imagined it to be in recent years. In 2021 and 2022, she struggled to play her best tennis, but she finally got back to the winning ways at the Canadian Open in Toronto.
She won the WTA 1000 tournament, and it seemed that the Romanian player was able to restart her tennis career. But only a few weeks later, Halep tested positive for a banned substance at the 2022 US Open, where she lost in the first round to Daria Snigur.
Since then, the 33-year-old has fought to prove her innocence. Initially, she was suspended for four years by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), but after taking her case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), her suspension was reduced to nine months.
Since, at the time, Halep had spent more than nine months away from the courts, she was allowed to return to competition immediately. The Miami Open organizers saw a chance and offered her a wild card, which she accepted.
Halep played a good match against Paula Badosa, which she lost in three sets, 6-1, 4-6, 3-6, but already in her first tournament after competing at the WTA 1000 event in Miami, the Romanian player was forced to withdraw despite leading against McCartney Kessler.
Since then, the former WTA World No. 1 player never properly returned. Halep played in two events in Hong Kong last year, but at the start of this season, she was forced to withdraw from the Australian Open.
Since her suspension in 2022, she has yet to properly compete, and it doesn't seem like that could change in the coming weeks. Halep recently spoke to Romanian publication Golazo, and she detailed her injury struggles.
The two-time Grand Slam champion admitted that her knee continues troubling her. Although she doesn't feel any pain at the moment, she still wasn't able to play matches.
"My knee is still giving me trouble because it's a cartilage tear, and it's not easy to manage. Right now, it doesn't hurt, but I haven't had any official matches either. That's the problem."
Halep is 33, and while she realizes that she enjoyed a very successful career on the tennis courts, she also knows that there's a life outside of tennis that she wants to explore.
"Everything I've done in tennis has been extraordinary, I've worked for it and I feel like a very accomplished tennis player. I would like to do something else, not just tennis."
The Romanian player admitted that she's considering retirement. She said it "crosses her mind often," and even the 2025 season could be Halep's last.
"Of course, I think about retirement, and it crosses my mind very often. I'm old, I have injuries that I can't recover from. The knee is not recovering. I've always said that tennis isn't the whole of life. Of course, I have many more desires and goals in this life, after tennis."
