The previous world No 1 Simona Halep has introduced her retirement after struggling a powerful defeat in her first match of 2025.
Halep belatedly received her season beneath method in her house occasion, the Transylvania Open, in Romania on Tuesday, after being handed a wildcard. However the two-time grand slam champion received simply two video games as Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti powered to a 6-1, 6-1 victory in simply 59 minutes.
Talking in an emotional on-court interview, Halep mentioned: “Tonight, I don’t know if it’s with pleasure or disappointment, I believe each emotions try me however I’m making this choice with my soul.
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“I’ve at all times been real looking with myself and with my physique. The place I most likely was, it’s very arduous to get there and I do know what it means to get there. That’s why I wished to come back right here as we speak in Cluj to play in entrance of you and say goodbye.
“Although my efficiency wasn’t superb it was nonetheless my soul and I’m very glad you got here, and I’ll surprise if I’ll come again once more. However for now it’s the final time I’ve performed right here and I don’t wish to cry.
“It’s a phenomenal factor. I grew to become world No 1, I received grand slams, it’s all I wished. Life goes on, there may be life after tennis and I hope that we’ll see one another once more.
“I’ll come to the tennis right here as typically as I can and naturally I’ll proceed to play – however to be aggressive it requires way more and at this second it’s now not.”
Halep, who was given a four-year doping ban that was decreased to 9 months on account of a contaminated complement, final competed on the WTA Tour in October in Hong Kong. The 33-year-old additionally performed in an exhibition occasion in Abu Dhabi in December, however subsequently pulled out of qualifying for the Australian Open, citing ache in her knee and shoulder.
This week Halep admitted that retiring “goes by way of my thoughts fairly often.” She instructed Romanian web site Golazo.ro: “I’m outdated, I’ve accidents that I can’t recuperate from. My knee isn’t recovering.”
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