Simona Halep Officially Announces Retirement

Simona Halep retired from tennis (Instagram/@simonahalep).

JAKARTA The owner of two Grand Slam titles and former world number one, Simona Halep, officially announced his retirement from the world of tennis.

The Romanian tennis player made the decision after losing 1-6 and 1-6 against Lucia Bronzetti in the first round of the Transylvania Open 2025 on Wednesday, January 5, 2025.

"I made this decision with my soul," Halep said on the pitch after the match, as reported by BBC Sport.

Halep, 33, recently said he was considering retiring. The statement comes after a knee injury forced him to withdraw from the Australian Open 2025 qualifiers last month.

This week's event is his fifth tournament since returning to the WTA Tour after a doping ban, a case that lasted almost two years.

Halep said that he did not completely leave the tennis that had raised him. However, he was no longer able to appear in a competitive arena.

"I will continue to play. However, for competitive events, it requires more and more and now it's no longer."

"It's a beautiful thing. I'm the world number one, I won a Grand Slam. That's all I want."

"Life continues, there is life after tennis. I hope we will meet again," he said.

Halep won his first Grand Slam at the 2018 French Open. He lifted the trophy after losing in the previous three Grand Slam finals by beatingLAd Stephens.

He then won at Wimbledon the following year. At that time, he only made three mistakes himself in an amazing final win against former world number one Serena Williams.

In total, Halep won 22 WTA Tour titles and spent 64 weeks as the world's number one tennis player.

Halep was sentenced to a four-year ban for two separate doping violations. He tested positive for using a banned substance in August 2022.

He always denies himself as innocent and appeals to the Sports Arbitration Court (CAS) in 2024. The sentence was later reduced nine months after he was declared to have used the robust industry by accident.

Halep then returned to the WTA Tour in March 2024, but only played six games until 2025. During the comeback period he was recorded to have won only once.