In the early morning of February 5, Beijing time, in a women's singles first-round matchup at the WTA 250 Cluj Napoca station, former world No. 1 and local star Halep ushered in her debut in the 2025 season, and it was also the farewell match of her career, the 33-year-old Romanian lost to Blonzetti 1-6/1-6, and officially announced her retirement in the post-match interview on the court.

Halep announced his retirement in a post-match interview

"First of all, I want to thank everyone, this stadium is like my home, I always get a lot of love here. From a competitive sports point of view, I'm very happy with what I've achieved in a way that I couldn't have imagined as a kid. I don't know if this decision will be sad or happy, but I have a clear conscience and my body can no longer bear it. ”

"That's why I want to be here and I want to say goodbye to everyone in the arena, even if I wasn't doing very well, I gave everything and I'm happy to see you here. I don't know if I'll ever be back in the ring, but for now it looks like this will be the last time I'll compete here. After the tennis career is over, life still has to go on. I need to work harder if I want to stay competitive, but that's not possible anymore. My parents gave everything for my dreams, thank you again to my mom and dad, I'm a lucky one! Thank you from the bottom of my heart! ”

Halep further explained the reason for his retirement in his post-match press conference: "I'm in a calm mood right now, I've never done anything wrong in my tennis career, I just want to rest, and now I'm a mentally exhausted professional tennis player. I want to surprise me with my life, I don't know what's going to happen in life, but now I'm going to say goodbye to tennis back home. I know it was the right decision, if you can't train every day, you can't handle the intensity of the tour. I don't have any regrets, we have to look forward, maybe it's all predestined. ”

At the 2018 French Open, Halep won his first Grand Slam title

Halep, who won two Grand Slam titles at the 2018 French Open and Wimbledon 2019, lost her first three Grand Slam finals (Sharapova in 2014, Ostapenko in 2017 and Wozniacki in 2018). Halep faced Stephens in the 2018 French Open final and dropped one set and fell behind in the second, but she came back from three sets to make her dream of a Grand Slam come true after her fourth attempt. A year later, at Wimbledon, she won her second Grand Slam title with an impeccable performance in the final, beating 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams.

At Wimbledon in 2019, Halep defeated Serena Williams to win his second Grand Slam title

Halep made her debut at the 2017 China Open and was ranked world No. 1 for 64 weeks, winning 24 WTA Tour singles titles, including nine at the WTA1000 level, and earning more than US$40 million in career prize money.

However, unexpectedly, in October 2022, Halep received a provisional ban for taking the banned drug Roxadustat during the US Open that year. Nearly a year later, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced that Halep was banned for four years, from October 2022 to October 2026. In November 2023, Halep's coach at the time, Moratoglou, admitted on his personal social media that he was responsible for his disciple's use of banned drugs, and the two sides began working together in April 2022 and ended their cooperation at the end of 2023.

Halep has been out of action for 18 months due to a drug ban

For nearly two years, Halep was the subject of controversy due to the drug ban, and she was not only unable to compete normally, but also went through a long journey of appeal. In March last year, Halep finally had good news, when the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that the Romanian had not intentionally used banned drugs and announced that her ban would be reduced from four years to nine months.

Halep then made her comeback debut in 18 months at WTA1000 Miami in March last year, losing to Spain's Bardosa in the first round of the Women's Singles. Due to repeated injuries, Halep has only played four tournaments in the 2024 season, with only one win and four defeats. Prior to that, she last made her appearance at the WTA 250 in Hong Kong last October, when she lost to China's Yuan Yue in the first round of the Women's Singles.

In October 2024, Halep will appear in Hong Kong

Although Halep was mired in controversy and litigation at the end of her career, she will always be remembered for her tenacity and tireless efforts as the most successful female tennis player in Romanian history.

(Text, Editor/Faye Wong, Photo: Visual China, Li Jianyi)