Former world number one Halep announces retirement from tennis

Former tennis world number one Simona Halep announced her retirement after her first-round defeat at the WTA Cluj-Napoca tournament in her native Romania.

"I don't know if it's with sadness or joy - I think I'm feeling both - but my soul is at peace with this decision, and I've always been realistic with myself. My body can no longer handle as much as it used to, to get me where I probably once was," Halep said, using a microphone to address the crowd in Cluj, Romania, following her 6-1, 6-1 loss to 72-ranked Italian Lucia Bronzetti in the Transylvania Open.

"It's very hard to reach that level, and I know what it takes to get there," Halep said. "That's why I wanted to be here today, in Cluj, to play in front of you and say goodbye on the tennis court, even if my performance wasn't great."

The two-time Grand Slam champion, who had been working to re-establish herself after a doping ban, pulled out of Australian Open qualifying last month citing pain in her knee and shoulder.

Simona Halep holds hands with her father at the end of a match during Transylvania Open in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Reuters

Halep 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.

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.

Simona Halep celebrates wining the final match of the French Open tennis tournament against Sloane Stephens. File / AP

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.

Simona Halep and Serena Williams pose with their trophies after the women's singles final match in London, on July 13, 2019. AP

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.