The WTA Tour, unlike the ATP Tour, has a reputation for being unstable. Many tennis stars come and go as quickly as they rise to the top. However, some players are reliable and are able to secure good results for a period of time. One of them was former World No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep, a player who fought hard for a place in the elite but sadly had a sad ending to her career, after dealing with a doping scandal and suffered several injuries.
Born in Rumania in 1991, Halep had a successful juniors career, winning the French Open and being a world No. 1, before becoming professional in 2006. She broke into the Top 50 at the end of 2011, and by 2014 she was already one of the Top 10 players on tour. Precisely, between 2013 and 2021 she had her best years in her career.
In 2013, she made history by winning her first six WTA titles in a single season, becoming the first player to achieve the feat since Steffi Graf in 1986. Halep reached her first Grand Slam final at the 2014 French Open but fell short. She would finish as the runner-up again at Roland Garros in 2017 and the Australian Open in 2018 before finally securing her maiden major title at the 2018 French Open.
She continued her success on the biggest stages, finishing as the runner-up at the 2014 WTA Finals to Serena Williams before defeating the American to win Wimbledon in 2019. Beyond her Grand Slam victories, she maintained remarkable consistency, ranking in the WTA top 10 for 373 consecutive weeks from January 27, 2014, to August 8, 2021—the eighth-longest streak in tour history.
However, in 2021, she suffered a calf injury during her opening match at the Italian Open, which made her retire from the French Open and Wimbledon. After struggling during her comeback, she suffered another setback: a strict sanction after testing positive for a prohibited substance.
Simona Halep’s doping case: Her criticism of Sinner and Swiatek
In October 2022, Simona Halep tested positive for the banned substance roxadustat at the US Open, leading to a four-year suspension. The International Tennis Integrity Authority cited inconsistencies in her biological passport and sought to disqualify her results from March to October 2022. Halep denied wrongdoing and appealed the ban, receiving support from the Professional Tennis Players Association.
On March 5, 2024, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that Halep’s positive test likely resulted from a contaminated supplement. While she was found to bear some fault, it was not enough to justify a lengthy suspension. Her ban was reduced to nine months, which she had already served, clearing her for an immediate return to competition.
After Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek’s doping cases were made public and it was revealed that they were able to play while the appeal, Halep was one that criticized the “double standard.”
“I’m sitting and trying to understand, but it’s really impossible for me to understand something like this. I stand and ask myself, why is there such a big difference in treatment and judgment? I can’t find it and I don’t think there can be a logical answer,” she wrote on her Instagram in November. “It can only be bad will from ITIA, the organisation that has done absolutely everything to destroy me despite the evidence,” she slammed the organization.
She further clarified her comments to The Telegraph Sport: “What I believe is not fair, either, is that they announced my case straight away, and I got all the heat from the press, and for these two players (Sinner and Swiatek) they kept it secret, and they just said about the case when everything was done, so it’s very weird,” she said about their cases.
“And I also asked to lift the provisional suspension to be able to play. I said, ‘If you believe in the end that I am guilty, you take the points back and all the money and everything, but let me play,’ because I wanted to keep the rhythm. I asked this about two or three times, but now they (Sinner and Swiatek) can play,” she added.
In March 2024, Simona Halep made her return to the court at the Miami Open, entering the tournament with a wild card invitation. However, her comeback was short-lived as she fell to Spain’s Paula Badosa, who went on to have an impressive season, and then lost to Yuan Yue during the Hong Kong Tennis Open.
Retirement: ‘I’m at peace’
On Tuesday, February 4, Halep played what would be her final professional match. Competing in front of her home crowd at the WTA 250 event in Cluj, the 33-year-old was defeated 6-1, 6-1 by Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti. Following the loss, the former world No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion announced her retirement.
Speaking with 30-0, Halep shared her perspective on retirement: “I don’t know why everyone fears this moment. I feel fine, though maybe in a few days, it will be harder. For me, it’s a relief. It was very difficult—I’m not the type of person who steps on the court just to be there. I couldn’t even train properly. Before coming here, the most I could do was an hour a day on clay.”
She continued: “Obviously, you need much more to compete in a full match. My knee hurts, my shoulder hurts, and I reached emotional exhaustion. I no longer see the point in continuing. I can’t push myself just to fight for a spot in the top 100. To stay at the top, you have to work like crazy… and I just can’t do that anymore.”
Reflecting on her suspension and the challenges she endured, Halep acknowledged how the experience changed her perspective. “Until my suspension, I didn’t believe in evil. That’s when I realized there’s a lot of it in the world. People ask me if I feel the need for revenge, but I don’t—not even against those who acted in bad faith. I’m at peace knowing I did nothing wrong. I want to remain clean and calm,” she said.
She acknowledged that the turning point came when doctors recommended a cartilage implant for her knee, with a recovery period of 18 months and no certainty of regaining her top form. However, despite her sad goodbye to tennis, Halep will remain as one of the biggest champions in the sport.