By Grace Wang
Simona Halep, former world number one and two-time Grand Slam champion, has sadly announced her retirement from professional tennis. Following a first-round loss to Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti in front of a packed home crowd in Romania, Halep announced her official retirement from the sport after hinting at it a week earlier. Once the highest-ranked tennis player in the world, she was banned from competing due to a doping suspension, only returning to the court in March 2024 after the ban was shortened. But since then, she has only played a total of six matches with a record of 1-5.
Now 33 years old, Halep rose to the top of the world rankings in 2017, later winning a pair of Grand Slams in 2018 and 2019. With her undeniable career achievements and statistics, she has truly impacted the sport. Having earned more than 40 million dollars in prize money, she is the 3rd highest ranked female tennis player of all time, only behind the Williams sisters. She also held the world number one ranking for 64 weeks and won 24 titles in her illustrious career.
Carrying the flag for Romanian tennis, Simona Halep is the first Romanian, man or woman, to hold the top ranking in the world and is the first to win a Wimbledon crown. Her career is one to truly be proud of, and although she will no longer be on the court, her legacy will live on with a Hall of Fame career and undeniable contribution to the sport.
