Bucharest - Saba:
Former world number one and Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion Simona Halep announced her retirement on Wednesday after losing in the first round of the Cluj-Napoca tournament held in her home country.
Halep, 33, put an end to her career in the world of yellow ball after a heavy defeat to Italian Lucia Bronzetti, ranked 72nd in the world, with a score of 6-1 and 6-1.
She addressed the fans, saying: "I don't know if I am talking to you with joy or sadness, but I made this decision in my heart and conscience. I always knew what I wanted.. My body could no longer bear it, but today I wanted to play and say goodbye on the court."
After being suspended for four years until 2026 on October 7, 2022, due to a positive test at the 2022 US Open and an error in her biological passport data, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decided to reduce the sentence to nine months on the grounds that her positive test result for the drug Roxadustat, used to treat anemia and banned as a blood doping substance, was the result of a contaminated supplement.
Despite returning to the courts in March 2024, Halep has not been able to regain the level that allowed her to rise to the world number one position in October 2017, where she held the top spot for 64 weeks in her career.
She withdrew from the Australian Open qualifiers last month, indicating that she was suffering from pain in her knee and shoulder.
Halep's record includes winning 24 titles in 19 years on the courts, including the 2018 Roland Garros and 2019 Wimbledon tournaments, and she also played and lost the finals of three other Grand Slam tournaments (Roland Garros 2014 and 2017 and the 2018 Australian Open).