BUCHAREST, February 6, 2025 - After almost 15 years in international competitions, Romanian tennis player, Simona Halep (33 years old), a two-time grand slam winner and former world number one announced on Wednesday 5 February that she is retiring from professional tennis.

Now ranked 870th in the WTA ranking, Halep is regarded as Romania's greatest tennis player with two major titles (Roland Garros 2018 and Wimbledon 2019), ahead of even Virginia Ruzici (70 years old), champion at Roland Garros 1978.

Halep announced her retirement at the end of her first-round match at the Transylvania Open in Cluj Napoca, saying that “she can no longer rise to the level of the past”. According to the official WTA website, the Romanian tennis player has won 24 WTA titles. “I make the decision with a peaceful soul. My body no longer takes so much to get to where I used to be. I know what it means. That's why I wanted to come to Cluj today to play in front of you and say goodbye on the tennis court! Who knows if I'll come back. It's the last time I've played here... I don't want to cry," Simona Halep told spectators at the BT Arena Cluj Napoca.

She posted on her X account: "Thank you for everything. I leave full of gratitude."

The Romanian was initially suspended for 4 years, a suspension that was then reduced to 9 months by WADA and then by ITIA, she being found guilty of negligence for contamination with Roxadustat at the 2022 US Open according to the decision of these institutions.