Simona Halep withdraws from tennis
The Romanian tennis player, Simona Halep, has officially withdrawn from tennis
Leyla Cheamil, 15.06.2026, 13:50
The world’s former top tennis player, Simona Halep, officially withdrew from tennis on Saturday at the age of 34, during a grandiose event staged at BT Arena in Cluj-Napoca, northwestern Romania. Thus the seventh edition of the Sports Festival brought together legends of the Romanian sports, such as Nadia Comăneci, Gheorghe Hagi, Ilie Năstase and Virginia Ruzici, as well as some leading figures of the tennis world, such as Simona’s former trainers, Darren Cahill and Daniel Dobre, referee Kader Nuni and top players like Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils. Along her impressive career, Simona Halep occupied the first position in the WTA ranking, two times, in 2017 and 2019.
She won the Grand slam tournaments in Roland Garros in 2018 and Wimbledon in 2019, and she played in the 2014 WTA Finals. She was designated the player of the year 2018 by WTA and the most dominant player by ESPN, which included her in the Dominant 20, before other players, such as Novak Djokovici or Lewis Hamilton. During the event on Saturday, the public could admire all the trophies the athlete won during her entire career. Furthermore, the court in BT Arena was symbolically personalized in two colours, green for the Wimbledon title and orange for the one the athlete got at Roland Garros. On the aforementioned occasion, the vice-president of the Romanian Tennis Federation, Daniel Dobre, awarded Simona a special trophy on behalf of the national forum. Before a huge crowd attending the ceremony, Halep conveyed a message of gratitude to the fans and her native country.
“Thank you, Romania. This is where I was born and where I grew up. I thank you from the bottom of my heart that you didn’t doubt me when it was difficult for me,” said the visibly touched athlete.
Images from the life and career of the former world number one were screened for the first time at the gala, which also included demo games of singles and doubles, which involved the participation of Simona Halep, Andrei Pavel, Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils, who offered a genuine show full of funny moments and spectacular technical performances. “It is special, because here is my life. These trophies, these people who supported me all the time, even in my difficult moments were with me and gave me good energy. All the images we have seen on the screen were part of my life, all these people rooting for me, and you must know that every day was special. It was difficult, but eventually turned out to be beautiful,” Halep said.
In a symbolical moment for the future of the Romanian tennis, Halep exchanged several shots with an eight-year-old tennis player from Cluj-Napoca.
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