Former WTA No. 1 Simona Halep on Tuesday announced her retirement from tennis after 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.
“I don’t know if it is with joy or sadness that I speak to you, but I made this decision in my soul and conscience, I have always been lucid,” Halep told the crowd. “My body no longer follows, but today I wanted to play and say my goodbyes on the court.”
Photo: Reuters
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.
Halep returned to tennis in March last year after her career had been on hold since Oct. 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 International Tennis Integrity Agency, but successfully appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), arguing her positive test for roxadustat — used to treat anemia 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.
However, she never regained 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.
Brazil has four teams, more than any other country, in the expanded Club World Cup that kicked off yesterday in the US, but for SE Palmeiras, the competition holds a special meaning: winning it would provide some redemption. Under coach Abel Ferreira since 2020, Palmeiras lifted two Copa Libertadores titles, plus Brazilian league, cup and state championships. Even before Ferreira, it boasted another South American crown and 11 league titles. The only major trophy missing is a world champions’ title. Other Brazilian clubs like Fluminense FC and Botafogo FR, also in the tournament, have never won it either, but the problem for Palmeiras
Paris Saint-Germain’s Lee Kang-in has pleaded with South Korea fans to get behind the team at the 2026 FIFA World Cup after more boos were aimed at coach Hong Myung-bo despite leading them to qualification. South Korea reached next year’s finals in North America without losing a game, but that does not tell the whole story. The country’s soccer association has been in the firing line, having scrambled about to find a successor after sacking the unpopular Jurgen Klinsmann in February last year. They eventually settled on Hong, the decorated former skipper who had an unsuccessful stint as coach in 2013-2014, during which
Lionel Messi drew vast crowds and showed flashes of his brilliance when his Inter Miami side were held to a goalless draw by African giants Al-Ahly as the revamped FIFA Club World Cup got off to a festive start on Saturday. Fans showed up en masse for the Group A clash at the Hard Rock Stadium, home to the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, but Messi could not fully deliver, his best chance coming through a last-second attempt that was deflected onto the crossbar. Inter Miami next face FC Porto on Thursday in Atlanta, while Al-Ahly, who benefited from raucous, massive support, are to
Ferrari’s F1 fortunes might be flagging, but the Italian team start this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans as favorites, targeting a third consecutive triumph in motorsport’s fabled endurance classic. Roger Federer is acting as celebrity starter with the tennis icon getting the 93rd edition of the jewel in four-wheeled endurance racing’s crown under way tomorrow. Twenty-four hours later, through daylight, darkness and dawn, the 21 elite hypercars are to battle it out over 300 laps (more than 4,000km) in front of a sold-out 320,000 crowd burning the midnight oil with copious quantities of coffee and beer. Ferrari made a triumphant return after
RSS