Injury issues have frustrated Simona Halep's return to tennis in 2024, but the Romanian has already announced a tournament on her schedule for 2025.
Halep was cleared to return to tennis in March after her four-year suspension for taking a banned substance was reduced to nine months. Since Halep had already been away from the sport for longer than nine months by then, she was allowed to return immediately.
The two-time Grand Slam champion's first tournament back was the Miami Open. Despite performing impressively for long spells of her match against Paula Badosa, Halep ultimately lost in three sets.
After making another appearance at a WTA 125k tournament in France, Halep was sidelined for over four months with a knee injury, derailing her hopes of making a strong comeback to the sport.
It may have been tempting for Halep to take the rest of 2024 off and use that time to train hard for 2025, but the Romanian decided against that, surprising fans by announcing she would return at the ongoing WTA 125k event in Hong Kong.
Halep played her first match in more than four months on Wednesday in Hong Kong, overcoming Arina Rodionova in a scrappy three-set match. The 33-year-old did not play her best tennis but found a way to win.
That triumph was her first win returning to the sport after her doping suspension. Halep reacted to the win afterward, saying she could not describe the feeling of being back playing the sport she loves.
Unfortunately, that sole victory was as good as things got for Halep in Kong. In the following round, Anna Blinkova thrashed her 2-6, 1-6 after a match that was one-sided from start to finish.
That humbling defeat shows that Halep still has a lot of work to do to get near the level that saw her win two Grand Slams and become the world's No. 1. She can only do that by staying fit and building match fitness next year.
Halep will try to start that process by appearing on home soil at the Transylvania Open, held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. She has not played at the tournament since 2021.
The former world No. 1 announced the news on the tournament's social media page. Her involvement will certainly boost ticket sales at the WTA 250 event, which will be held from February 3rd to 9th next year.
Halep receiving a wild card for the Transylvania Open is not surprising. She is the most successful singles player in Romanian tennis history, meaning the tournament was undoubtedly desperate to secure her involvement.
It is unknown what other tournaments Halep will play at before February's Transylvania Open. She is currently ranked outside the Top 1000, meaning the 2018 French Open champion relies on wild cards to enter events at WTA 125k level and above.
The experienced Halep probably realizes that some bumps in the road, such as the one she suffered against Blinkova in Hong Kong, are inevitable. Getting back to the top will require extensive hard work and dedication.
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