“I am making this decision with my soul,” said Romanian tennis champion Simona Halep, a former world number one who announced her retirement after suffering defeat while playing at home on Tuesday during the Transylvania Open in Romania. It was Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti who claimed victory with 6-1, 6-1 in just 59 minutes. This week Halep announced that she is retiring. “I am old, I have injuries that I can’t recover from. My knee is not recovering,” she told Romanian web editorial Golazo.ro.
During an on-court interview, an emotional Halep said, “Tonight, I don’t know if it’s with joy or sadness, – and I think I have both feelings, but I’m making this decision with my soul. I’ve always been realistic with myself and my body. Where I probably was, it’s very difficult to get there and I know what it means to live this path. That’s why I wanted to come here today in Cluj to play in front of the public and say goodbye.”
Halep, last competed on the WTA Tour in October in Hong Kong. The 33-year-old also played in an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi in December, but withdrew from qualifying for the Australian Open afterward due to knee and shoulder pain.
“Although my performance was not very good, it was still my soul and I am very happy that the audience came, and I will wonder if I will come back again. But for now it’s the last time I play here and I don’t want to cry.” “It’s a beautiful thing,” Halep continued, ”I became world number one, I won grand slams, and that’s all I wanted. Life goes on and on … there is life after tennis and I hope we will see each other again. I will continue to follow tennis and of course, I will continue to play, but to be competitive requires a lot more and right now that is not possible anymore.”
