From 27 January 2014 to 8 August 2021, Halep was ranked in the top 10 for 373 consecutive weeks, the eighth-longest streak in WTA history. During this seven-year span, she finished each year ranked no lower than No. 4. She has won 24 WTA Tour singles titles and finished runner-up 18 times. A French Open junior champion and former junior world No. 1, Halep first broke into the world's top 50 at the end of 2011, the top 20 in August 2013, and the top 10 in January 2014. She won her first six WTA titles in the same calendar year in 2013, and was the first to do so since Steffi Graf in 1986. This led to her being named the WTA Most Improved Player of the year. Halep reached three major finals at the 2014 French Open, 2017 French Open, and 2018 Australian Open before winning her first major title at the 2018 French Open over Sloane Stephens. Halep also finished runner-up at the 2014 WTA Finals to Serena Williams, despite defeating Williams in the round-robin stage. She did not defeat Williams a second time until the final of the 2019 Wimbledon Championships.
Halep won her fourth title at the New Haven Open, defeating No. 8 Caroline Wozniacki and No. 9 Petra Kvitová in the semifinals and final respectively. This was her first title at the Premier level and put her in the top 20 for the first time. Halep continued her success at the US Open, where she was seeded at a Grand Slam event for the first time at No. 21. She made it to the fourth round, her best result at a Grand Slam event to date. Halep won a fifth title at the Premier-level Kremlin Cup, defeating Stosur in the final. At the end of the season, she qualified for the WTA Tournament of Champions, an event for the highest-ranked WTA title-holders who did not qualify for the WTA Finals. Halep won this event as well, defeating No. 16 Ana Ivanovic and No. 19 Stosur in the knockout rounds. With her sixth WTA title, she finished the year at No. 11 in the world and was named the WTA Most Improved Player of the Year. She was second on the tour in singles titles behind only Serena Williams who had 11, and was the first woman to win her first six WTA titles in the same season since Steffi Graf in 1986. Halep attributed her improvement to developing a more positive mindset, saying, "What changed was that I allowed myself to be relaxed on the court by taking the pressure off. I told myself to enjoy it and play with pleasure."
Simona Halep (.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}Romanian pronunciation: [siˈmona haˈlep]; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world number one in singles twice between 2017 and 2019, for a total of 64 weeks, which ranks twelfth in the history of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings. Halep was the year-end No. 1 in 2017 and 2018. She has won two Grand Slam singles titles: the 2018 French Open and the 2019 Wimbledon Championships.
Simona Halep was born on 27 September 1991 in Constanța, Romania to Stere and Tania Halep, who are of Aromanian descent. She has a brother Nicolae who is five and a half years older. Halep's father played lower-division football for AS Săgeata Stejaru and worked as a zootechnics technician before becoming the owner of a dairy products factory. He developed an interest in supporting his children's athletic ventures as a consequence of wondering how far he would have progressed as a footballer if his parents could have provided him with more financial support when he was growing up. When Halep was four years old, she started playing tennis after attending one of her brother's training sessions. Although her brother stopped playing the sport after a few years, Halep began practising twice a week until she was six, from which point on she practiced daily. Although she focused on tennis, she also played football and handball while growing up. Growing up in Constanța, she routinely trained on the beaches and in the water of the Black Sea. As a teenager, she was partly sponsored by Corneliu Idu, the owner of the leading tennis club in Constanța. When Halep was sixteen, she moved away from her family to train in Bucharest.
Halep is a former world No. 1 junior. She began playing on the ITF Junior Circuit in 2005 at the age of 13 and finished runner-up at the low-level Grade 4 Mamaia-Sen Junior ITF Tournament in Romania in her second career event. The following year, Halep won all four ITF singles events she entered, including the Mamaia-Sen tournament which was reclassified to mid-level Grade 3. She also represented Romania at the Junior Fed Cup that year alongside Irina-Camelia Begu and Andreea Mitu. The team finished in ninth place. Halep moved up to higher-level events in 2007 and won her first and only Grade 1 title at the Perin Memorial in Umag in April. She also made her junior Grand Slam debut that year, losing in the third round at the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open.
Halep turned pro in 2006 and started her professional career playing low-level $10K ITF Women's Circuit events in Romania in 2006 and 2007. She won both her first two ITF singles and doubles titles in back-to-back weeks in Bucharest in May 2007. After accomplishing this feat a third time the following year, Halep won her first $25K singles title in Sweden in June 2008. She began playing more higher-level events once she finished her junior career, reaching a $50K final in 2009 in Makarska. Halep also attempted to qualify for WTA events twice that year, losing in the second qualifying round at both the Open GDF Suez and the French Open. Towards the end of the season, she defeated No. 96 Angelique Kerber for her first top 100 victory and also reached the semifinals of a $50K event in Minsk to make her debut in the top 200 of the WTA rankings.
As a junior, Halep was coached by Ioan Stan in Constanța. She began working with Firicel Tomai in 2008. After five years, she switched coaches to Adrian Marcu, a former top 200 player. During this time, she also worked with Andrei Mlendea. Despite having a breakthrough year with six titles in 2013, Halep left Marcu at the end of the season. She hired Wim Fissette, a former coach of Kim Clijsters, at the start of 2014. Fissette was the first coach she worked with who was not Romanian. Under Fissette, Halep made her first Grand Slam final at the 2014 French Open. Nonetheless, she switched coaches at the end of the season to another Romanian coach, Victor Ioniță, who was also a former top 200 player. Veteran coach Thomas Högstedt also served as a consultant early in the year.
Halep improved her junior Grand Slam performance in 2008, her last year on the junior tour. She entered just four events that year. In Australia, she finished runner-up to Arantxa Rus at Nottinghill and then lost to Australian Jessica Moore in the semifinals of the Australian Open. After focusing on professional tournaments, Halep returned to the junior circuit in May and won her first Grade A title at the Trofeo Bonfiglio without dropping a set. She then finished her junior career by winning her only junior Grand Slam title at the French Open. As the ninth seed, she defeated the fifth-seed Moore and the second-seed Rus en route to reaching the final without losing a set. Halep defeated compatriot Elena Bogdan in three sets in the final to become the second Romanian girl to win a junior Grand Slam singles title after Mariana Simionescu won the 1974 French Open. With the title, she also became the top-ranked junior in the world.
Halep made her debut for the Romania Fed Cup team in 2010 when they were in the third-tier Europe/Africa Zone Group I. They needed to win all three of the ties in their round robin pool to have a chance to get promoted to the next tier. From 2010 through 2012, they only won two out of three ties, and in 2013, they only won one tie. Halep played on the team in 2010, 2012, and 2014 when they were in this group. She won all three of her singles matches in 2010 and 2012, but lost a decisive doubles match in both ties Romania lost. Halep had partnered with Raluca Olaru in their loss against Switzerland in 2010, and Irina-Camelia Begu in their loss against Poland in 2012. In 2014, Romania swept their group of Hungary, Great Britain, and Latvia. They won in spite of Halep's first Fed Cup singles loss to Tímea Babos against Hungary. They then won a playoff against Ukraine, with Halep and Sorana Cîrstea winning the two singles rubbers, to advance to the World Group II play-offs. In the Play-offs, Romania defeated Serbia by a score of 4–1 to get promoted to World Group II in 2015. Halep and Cîrstea each played two singles rubbers, with Halep suffering the only loss against Ana Ivanovic.
Halep made her WTA main-draw debut in April 2010, qualifying for three consecutive events. In her first WTA tournament, she reached the quarterfinals at the Andalucia Tennis Experience, defeating compatriot and world No. 36 Sorana Cîrstea before losing to No. 16 Flavia Pennetta. At her third event, Halep made her first career WTA final, finishing runner-up at the Morocco Open to Iveta Benešová. This success helped her rise from No. 166 at the beginning of April to No. 110 in the first set of rankings in May. Later that month, Halep made her Grand Slam debut at the French Open, losing her opening round match in straight sets to No. 7 Samantha Stosur after reaching the main draw through qualifying. After losing in qualifying at Wimbledon, Halep made her top 100 debut in July following a semifinal at the $100K Open de Biarritz. With her rise in the rankings, she was directly accepted into a Grand Slam main draw for the first time at the US Open, where she was drawn against No. 4 Jelena Janković, another top-ten opponent. Unlike at the French Open, Halep won the second set and had a chance to serve for the match at 5–4 in the third, but ultimately lost that game and the match, which lasted two hours and twenty minutes in severe heat. Halep's best result of the year after the US Open was a final at the $100K Torhout Ladies Open, which helped her finish the season with a year-end ranking of No. 81 in the world.
Halep played almost exclusively WTA Tour events in 2011. She won her first career Grand Slam matches at the Australian Open, defeating Anne Kremer and No. 23 Alisa Kleybanova to reach the third round. During the clay court season, Halep defended her runner-up finish at the Morocco Open from the previous year, again losing in the final, this time to Alberta Brianti. Nonetheless, she struggled in the other clay court tournaments, only recording one more match win, which came in the opening round at the 2011 French Open. She also reached the second round at Wimbledon, losing in three sets to seventh-seed and defending champion Serena Williams. At the 2012 Olympics, she competed in the women's singles, losing in the first round, and the women's doubles, with Sorana Cîrstea, also losing in the first round. During the US Open Series, Halep qualified for the Rogers Cup and recorded her first top 20 victory against No. 15 Svetlana Kuznetsova in the first round. At the US Open, Halep then recorded her first top 10 victory over No. 6 Li Na in her opening match, despite playing with an ankle sprain she suffered at the Rogers Cup. Despite a loss to Carla Suárez Navarro in the next round, this result put Halep in the top 50 for the first time. She finished the year at No. 47 in the world.
Halep has described herself as an aggressive baseliner. Her tennis idol and former world No. 1 Justine Henin has said, " [Halep] has an intelligent game. There is a little something that reminds me of myself... it is offensive and aggressive." Halep also has excellent defensive skills and great court coverage. Around the time of her breakthrough in 2013, she transitioned from being a grinder who primarily scrambles to get a lot of balls back in play to someone who plays more aggressively. Journalist Louisa Thomas has compared her improved style of play to that of Novak Djokovic as someone who can hit strong but simple winners from defensive positions where opponents would expect a less aggressive shot. She can hit winners both cross-court and down-the-line. During points, Halep strives to disrupt her opponent's rhythm. She uses her speed and anticipation to set up powerful shots rather than just extend points. Her fluidity and balance have been credited as the basis for this style of play that is both aggressive and defensive.
Halep greatly improved her Grand Slam results in 2014. With a victory of No. 8 Jelena Janković, she reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open, where she was upset by No. 20 Dominika Cibulková. With this result, Halep made her debut in the top 10 of the WTA rankings. The next month, Halep won her first Premier 5 title at the Qatar Open, defeating three top 10 opponents in the last three rounds, including No. 9 Angelique Kerber in the final. After a semifinal at the Indian Wells Open, she rose to No. 5 in the world, making her the highest-ranked Romanian in the history of the WTA rankings. During the clay court season, Halep reached the two biggest finals of her career to date. She finished runner-up to Maria Sharapova at both the Premier Mandatory Madrid Open and the French Open. She had not lost a set before the French Open final, making her the first woman to reach her maiden Grand Slam final without dropping a set since Martina Hingis at the 1997 Australian Open. Both finals went to three sets, and the French Open final lasted over three hours. With these two runner-ups, Halep moved up to No. 3.
Halep was named the WTA Most Popular Player of the Year in 2014 and 2015, as well as the WTA Fan Favorite Singles Player of the Year in 2017, 2018, and 2019. She is a recipient of the Patriarchal Cross of Romania and the Order of the Star of Romania, and was named an honorary citizen of Bucharest. She is the third Romanian to reach the top 10 of the WTA rankings after Virginia Ruzici and Irina Spîrlea, and the second Romanian woman to win a major singles title after Ruzici. She is also the first Romanian woman to be ranked world No. 1 and the first Romanian to win a Wimbledon singles title. Halep is regarded as one of the best returners on the WTA Tour, while also building her game around controlled aggression and being able to hit winners from defensive positions.
Romanian journalist Adrian Toca said, "Simona is without a doubt the biggest sports star in Romania". After Halep won Grand Slam titles at the 2018 French Open and 2019 Wimbledon, she was welcomed back to Romania with large celebrations at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. About 15,000 people attended the celebration after the 2018 French Open title and about 30,000 people attended after her 2019 Wimbledon triumph. Romanian International Tennis Hall of Famer and businessman Ion Țiriac presided over the Wimbledon celebration, which was attended by several of the most notable athletes in the country's history including footballer Gheorghe Hagi and Olympic gold medal gymnast Nadia Comăneci. Halep has also been named a cetățean de onoare, an honorary citizen of Bucharest. She has been awarded the Patriarchal Cross of Romania and the Order of the Star of Romania. Halep is also popular worldwide. She was named the WTA Most Popular Player of the Year in 2014 and 2015 for being the most-clicked player on the WTA website. She was also named the WTA Fan Favorite Singles Player for three consecutive years in 2017, 2018, and 2019.
Halep retired from her opening Italian Open match against with Angelique Kerber after tearing a muscle in her left calf. The calf injury sidelined her from the French Open and Wimbledon, where she was the defending champion from 2019. As a result of not defending her 2019 Wimbledon points, her ranking fell to No. 13, dropping her out of the top 10 for the first time since January 2014 and ending a streak of 373 straight weeks in the top 10, the 8th longest in WTA history.
Halep's clothing sponsor has been Nike since February 2018. She signed a $1.7 million deal a few weeks after competing at the 2018 Australian Open without a sponsor and finishing as the runner-up. Halep did not have a sponsor because her deal with Adidas, which began in May 2014, ended at the start of the year. She had also previously been sponsored by Lacoste. Halep endorses Wilson rackets, specifically the Blade 98 model.
Halep is sponsored by a variety of Romanian brands. She had a three-year deal with Vodafone Romania that began in November 2014. She appeared in commercials for Vodafone with her mother as part of their "Românii au iniţiativă" (Romanians have initiative) campaign. She also has appeared in Romanian commercials for Rexona, an international antiperspirant company. Halep endorses Dorna, a Romanian brand of water produced by Coca-Cola Romania, and has also participated in their "Grija pentru copii" (Care for children) campaign to provide care for babies born prematurely. Halep is also sponsored by Dedeman, the largest Romanian home improvement chain. She has been a brand ambassador for the Mercedes-Benz Romania automobile manufacturing company since 2017, and internationally for Hublot watches since 2016.
Halep underperformed at the Grand Slam events in 2016. She also had a slow start to the year, highlighted by an opening round loss at the Australian Open to qualifier Zhang Shuai who had not won a Grand Slam match in 14 attempts. She dealt with both an achilles injury and infections in the first two months of the season, and delayed nose surgery so she could play in the Fed Cup. In March, Halep lost in the quarterfinals at both Premier Mandatory events, the Indian Wells Open and the Miami Open. Having reached at least the semifinals at both events the previous year, she fell out of the top 5 in the rankings for the first time in over a year and a half. During the clay-court season, Halep won her second career Premier Mandatory title, defeating Dominika Cibulková in the final of the Madrid Open to return to the top 5. She did not continue this form into the French Open, losing to Samantha Stosur in the fourth round in a controversial match where play continued in rainy conditions. Halep fared better at Wimbledon, losing to eventual runner-up No. 4 Angelique Kerber in the quarterfinals.
Romania reached the semifinals of the World Group in 2019 for the first time since 1973, their best ever result. Like their last appearance in the World Group three years earlier, they were drawn against the defending champion Czech Republic team, who hosted the tie unlike in 2016. Halep and Mihaela Buzărnescu played the singles ties against Karolína Plíšková and Kateřina Siniaková. Halep won both of her rubbers, while Buzărnescu lost both of hers. In the decisive doubles rubber, Begu and Niculescu defeated Siniaková and Barbora Krejčíková to win the tie and put Romania in the semifinals. Romania faced France in the semifinals away from home. The tie began similarly to the first round, with Halep winning her two singles matches and Buzărnescu losing her first. Begu was chosen for the last singles rubber, but lost in three sets. Halep and Niculescu played the decisive doubles rubber against Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic. After winning the first set, the Romanians lost the match in three sets in nearly three hours to clinch the tie for France.
With the promotion, Romania faced Spain in the 2015 World Group II in a home tie. Halep and Begu both defeated Sílvia Soler Espinosa, while both losing to Garbiñe Muguruza. Begu and Monica Niculescu then won the decisive doubles rubber to win the tie for Romania. Although Halep decided to skip the World Group Play-off tie to rest and Begu also unavailable due to injury, Romania defeated Canada in an away tie by a score of 3–2 to advance to the top-tier World Group in 2016. Halep postponed having nose surgery to make her Fed Cup World Group debut in the first round against the defending champion Czech Republic team at home in Cluj. Halep lost the first match of the tie to Karolína Plíšková, despite taking the first set. Niculescu then defeated Petra Kvitová to level the tie. On the second day, Halep also defeated Kvitová. After Niculescu lost to Plíšková, the Czech team of Plíšková and Barbora Strýcová defeated Niculescu and Olaru in the decisive doubles rubber to win the tie. Romania's next tie came against Germany in the World Group play-offs. Germany won three of the four singles rubbers, with Halep losing her second singles match to Angelique Kerber, to relegate Romania back to World Group II for 2017.
Halep missed Romania's first Fed Cup tie in 2017 due to injury. Romania lost the tie to Belgium, sending them to the World Group II play-offs where they played a tie against Great Britain to avoid relegation. Halep was instrumental in Romania winning the tie 3–2 to keep them in World Group II for 2018. She won both of her singles matches against Heather Watson and Johanna Konta to give Romania 2–1 lead. Begu then clinched the tie with a win over Watson in the last singles rubber. Although Halep missed the 2018 World Group II tie due to injury, Romania won the tie against Canada to advance back to the World Group play-offs. Facing Switzerland, Romania took the first three singles rubbers, with Halep winning two and Begu winning the other, to secure the tie and get promoted back to the top-tier World Group for 2019.
Halep is one of the best returners on the WTA Tour. She finished the 2018 season ranked first in percentage of first serve return points won at 42.9%, fourth in percentage of second serve return points won at 60.8%, first in percentage of return games won at 48.5%, and ninth in percentage of break points won at 50.1% among all players with at least ten matches. She is not ranked as highly in serving, in part due to her short stature at 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in). Nonetheless, she was ranked 21st in percentage of service points won in 2018 among players with at least ten matches.
Halep's favourite surface is clay. She was described as "no one's idea of a grass-court player [before Wimbledon]" after winning the title there in 2019. Halep has had success on all surfaces, winning 10 hard court titles in 18 finals, 7 clay court titles in 16 finals, and both of her grass court finals. Although she prefers clay, Halep has a record of just 3–7 in finals at Premier 5, Premier Mandatory, and Grand Slam events on this surface. She has fared better in high-level finals on hard courts, compiling a record of 5–7 across those three tournament tiers and the WTA Finals. She has won a Grand Slam title on clay and grass courts but not hard courts, coming closest with her runner-up finish at the 2018 Australian Open.
At the start of 2016, Halep began working with Darren Cahill, a former top 25 player from Australia. In three years with Cahill, Halep finished two seasons with the No. 1 ranking, reached three Grand Slam finals, and won her first Grand Slam title at the 2018 French Open. Cahill left her team after the 2018 season to spend more time with his family. After beginning 2019 without a coach, Halep hired Romanian Daniel Dobre in March. Dobre had trained to be a coach under Günther Bosch, the former coach of Boris Becker. With Dobre as her coach, Halep won her second Grand Slam title at 2019 Wimbledon. Halep's longtime fitness coach is Teo Cercel, who she has worked with since she was a junior. In the autumn of 2019, she announced the return of Darren Cahill as coach, and the two started working together again at the WTA finals. In September 2021, she announced the end of their working relationship and rehired Adrian Marcu and Daniel Dobre back to her team. After a 4th round loss at the 2022 Australian Open and inconsistent results in the Middle Eastern swing, Halep hired Patrick Mouratoglou to her team in May 2022.
On 15 September 2021, she married businessman Gabriel Iuruc, but in September 2022 she announced that she is divorcing. She also underwent nose surgery in September 2022 to correct breathing problems as well as to reshape her nose.
In October 2022, it was announced that Halep had tested positive for the banned substance roxadustat at the 2022 US Open. It was later announced that abnormalities were found in Halep's biological passport, and these would be taken into account at the tribunal. On 12 September 2023, Halep's suspension was upheld, and it was announced that Halep would receive a four-year ban from tennis and be ineligible to return to competition until 7 October 2026. The International Tennis Integrity Authority (ITIA) published a 126-page detailed report on its investigation of the doping violations and the inconsistencies in her biological passport. Also, the ITIA has asked for disqualification of Halep's results from 8 March 2022, when blood Sample 44 was collected, to 7 October 2022, the start of Halep's Provisional Suspension. The Professional Tennis Players Association continues to defend Halep and called the handling of Halep's situation a "disgrace", while the director of the toxicology laboratory at the CHU de Garches (and judicial expert for the French Supreme Court) has said "we’re condemning an innocent woman. We’re making a mistake." Halep stated she will appeal the 4-year ban.
Halep was suspended from the WTA Tour in October 2022 for four years after testing positive for a banned substance. Since her ban was reduced to nine months that have already been served as part of her provisional suspension, which would have ended in July 2023, she received a wildcard to immediately return to the WTA Tour at the 2024 Miami Open.
Halep appealed the four-year ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on February 7, 2024. The decision was published on March 5. The Court agreed with Halep’s contention that her positive test was likely caused by contamination of a supplement she had been using. Though the Court determined Halep did bear some level of fault or negligence for using the supplement, it did not rise to the level to justify a multi-year ban. Therefore the Court´s decision reduced the original four-year ban levied by the International Tennis Federation to nine months, which Halep already served. Halep was cleared for immediate return from suspension.
On 7 March 2024 she received a wildcard for the Miami Open. Despite taking the first set against Paula Badosa, she ended up losing in three sets in the first round.