Tears flow as former world No. 1 drops sudden retirement bomb on court

A much-loved tennis champ’s career has ended in sad scenes when she grabbed a microphone on court and left spectators in tears.

Former tennis world number one Simona Halep has announced her sudden retirement in a sad end to her glittering career.

The two-time grand slam champion left spectators in tears when she grabbed the microphone following her first-round defeat at the WTA Cluj-Napoca tournament in her native Romania.

The 33-year-old lost 6-1, 6-1 to 72nd-ranked Italian Lucia Bronzetti.

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Instead of walking off court in that moment, Halep was handed a microphone to drop her retirement news to her adoring home crowd.

“Tonight, I don’t know if it’s with joy or sadness, I think both feelings are trying me but I’m making this decision with my soul,” she told the crowd in Romanian.

“I’ve always been realistic with myself and with my body.

Simona Halep became visibly emotional. Photo: X, Christopher Clarey.

“Where I probably was, it’s very hard to get there and I know what it means to get there. That’s why I wanted to come here today in Cluj to play in front of you and say goodbye.

“Even though my performance wasn’t very good it was still my soul and I’m very glad you came, and I’ll wonder if I’ll come back again. But for now it’s the last time I’ve played here and I don’t want to cry.

“It’s a beautiful thing. I became world number one, I won grand slams, it’s all I wanted. Life goes on, there is life after tennis and I hope that we will see each other again.

“I’ll come to the tennis here as often as I can and of course I will continue to play — but to be competitive it requires much more and at this moment it is no longer.”

Halep was seen hugging former doubles partner Sorana Cirstea on the side of the court and the Olympic women’s doubles pairing were visibly emotional.

Simona Halep hugs Sorana Cirstea. Photo: Twitter, Jose Morgado.

Halep had been working to re-establish herself after a doping ban, but pulled out of Australian Open qualifying last month, citing pain in her knee and shoulder.

The former Australian Open finalist returned to tennis in March last year after her career had been on hold since October 7, 2022, after testing positive for roxadustat at the US Open.

The winner of the 2018 French Open and 2019 Wimbledon singles titles was then caught up in a second affair, over “irregularities” in the data of her biological passport.

Simona Halep says goodbye. Photo: X, WTA Tour.

She was handed a four-year ban by the ITIA, but successfully appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), arguing her positive test for roxadustat — used to treat anaemia and banned as a blood doping agent — was the result of a tainted supplement.

She denied knowingly doping and her ban was reduced from four years to nine months.

But she never managed to regain the level that allowed her to rise to the top of the world rankings in October 2017, a position she occupied for a total of 64 weeks in her career.

Halep won 24 WTA titles over her 19-year career including the French Open in 2018 and Wimbledon in 2019.

She also played in three other Grand Slam finals - the French Open in 2014 and 2017 and the Australian Open in 2018.

— with AFP