Simona Halep can’t wait to get back to Adelaide and her beloved Power
This year’s Wimbledon champion Simona Halep is the big-name draw for the new Adelaide International tournament in January. But the city already holds a special place in the Romanian star’s heart.
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FIVE months off and already Adelaide has got to Simona Halep. And in a good way, a very good way.
She’s been here before, a training camp punctuated with a week’s stay in Henley Beach two years ago, her former coach Darren Cahill keen to show off his own backyard – South Australia.
It’s a partnership that first made the Romanian the world’s best player in 2017 and has resulted in a lasting respect, mates as much as mentor and wannabe.
Quite simply, the 27-year-old can’t wait to get back for the inaugural Adelaide International at Memorial Drive in January.
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“I made many friends in Adelaide because of Darren so, hopefully, I’ll have some good support when I come back and play, and it will feel like my second home,” she says.
There is, of course, no dodging the footy connection, Cahill the scion of SA football royalty and now a Port Adelaide board member.
“I still follow Port Adelaide, it’s impossible not to while I’m friends with Darren. He talks about the team a lot,” says Halep.
“We went to the club last time I was there and were given a tour of everything. I got to see all of the old team pictures on the walls and meet some of the players.
“Darren brought everyone in my team a jersey for a training camp in Romania last year and I have the one with number 13 on it, my lucky number. I wish them the best success, always.”
Whatever pressure that brings in Adelaide – we did not venture into Crows territory – it is inconceivable Halep will not cope admirably. She has had much to deal with of late.
Shortly after crushing Serena Williams in last month’s Wimbledon final that perhaps only she and her team foresaw – her second grand slam after the 2018 French Open – Halep returned to Romania.
It was no ordinary homecoming, with 30,000 fans greeting her at the national football stadium in Bucharest, chanting her name – “Sim-o-na, Sim-o-na”.
Romania has never had a Wimbledon singles champion before, and extraordinary as her defeat of Williams was, the strength of feeling ran deeper than mere success.
“It was such a special night in Bucharest. I am very proud to represent Romania around the world and I know that when I win, I also win for my country,” Halep says.
“I will never take that support for granted.
“Everything from here is a bonus. I can be chilled now with the way I approach tennis because everything I worked for before was to win a first grand slam. I think that approach is what helped me to win my second so quickly.”
It is the manner in which Halep captured Wimbledon that bodes well for the future. Australia’s Ash Barty is world No. 1 right now – Halep is No. 4 – but no player has truly dominated since Williams’ glory days. Quietly though, Halep is racking up the numbers, four of the last nine grand slam finals reached with two wins.
It could have been three in Australia last year when, round after round, she overcame an injured ankle only to lose an enthralling final against Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki. There were times that fortnight when she looked shot, her racquet an impromptu walking stick to prop herself up for a breather time and again, to regroup, to fight again.
That is the measure of the woman, a fighter who by virtue of holding her mind and nerve in sync for 56 minutes on the grass on the second Saturday afternoon last month, is elevated to another level. The self-belief now runs deep.
“If I can win on grass then I have the confidence I can win on any surface,” Halep says. “ I’ll continue to work hard and enjoy this beautiful sport.”
Such is her popularity at home that two postage stamps to commemorate her July triumph have already been issued. She’s lucky, she says, to receive such an honour. So who is Romania’s most famous person then?
“You’ll have to answer that,” Halep says, with a laugh.