Simona Halep has been noticeably absent from the tennis courts lately, and it's because of an injury that started bothering her.
It hasn't been quite the year that the Romanians hoped it would be. She spent much of last year trying to prove her innocence in court, and after the Court of Arbitration for Sport finally ruled on her doping case earlier this year, things were seemingly moving in a great direction.
The 32-year-old player took the chance and traveled to Miami quickly. She returned to the courts for the first time in over a year and played at the WTA 1000 tournament there.
Her first match back wasn't perfect by any means, as she seemingly dealt with a shoulder problem, but she could play it and finish it, which was encouraging.
Her fans had to wait until the next match because she was dealing with that shoulder injury, so the next match came only in May at the WTA 125K tournament in Paris, leading up to Roland Garros.
She went onto the courts, won a set, and then retired in the second after starting to feel knee pain. That wasn't a positive sign because, generally, knee issues are quite easy to spot, especially for athletes, because of the movement and quick direction changes, and this was one of them.
In Halep's case, it was a knee injury that has troubled her since then. She's yet to play another match after that, and we won't see her back on the courts for a while as the injury persists. She posted an update on Instagram, informing of her current status.
"Hi everyone, I wanted to provide a little health update since I have been away from the court lately. It is not the best news, but I wanted to share all the same."
"For a few months now, I have been struggling with a knee injury. It’s an injury I have never had before and it has been a tough one to manage, with the pain persisting."
It has been a very tough two years for Halep, who first had to miss the entirety of last year due to the suspension and now struggles with the injuries. Still, she's not a machine and needs to take time to recover properly before she can think of returning.
"It has been a very difficult period (almost two years) mentally and emotionally for me and struggling physically on top of that definitely doesn’t help. I have decided to take the time needed to recover properly, rather than training and playing through pain."
We don't know when Halep might be back on the courts, but one thing is for certain: It won't be anytime soon. There is a decent chance that she will miss the rest of this year but then return fully healthy next year.
"My instinct has always been to try to come back as soon as possible, but I am not a machine, I am a human being and I need time to recover from everything I have gone through. I’ll keep you posted and, as always, want to thank you for your permanent support. I hope to be back on court very soon"
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