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Simona Halep
Halep at the 2014 Madrid Open
Country (sports) Romania
ResidenceConstanța, Romania
Born (1991-09-27) 27 September 1991 (age 33)[1]
Constanța, Romania
Height1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)[1]
Turned pro2006[2]
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
Coach
Prize money$11,193,052
Singles
Career record317–154
Career titles11 WTA, 6 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 2 (11 August 2014)
Current rankingNo. 5 (29 February 2016)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenQF (2014, 2015)
French OpenF (2014)
WimbledonSF (2014)
US OpenSF (2015)
Other tournaments
Tour FinalsF (2014)
Olympic Games1R (2012)
Doubles
Career record44–47
Career titles0 WTA, 4 ITF
Highest rankingNo. 146 (11 June 2012)
Current rankingNo. 312 (8 February 2016)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open1R (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014)
French Open2R (2012)
Wimbledon1R (2011, 2012, 2013, 2015)
US Open2R (2011)
Mixed doubles
Career titles0
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
US OpenQF (2015)
Team competitions
Fed Cup12–6
Last updated on: 8 February 2016.

Simona Halep (Romanian pronunciation: [siˈmona haˈlep];[3] born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian professional tennis player who is currently ranked world no. 5. Halep first broke into the world's top 50 at the end of 2012, the top 20 in August 2013, and then the top 10 in January 2014 (after reaching the Australian Open quarterfinal). She won her first 6 WTA titles in the same calendar year in 2013 (a feat that was last achieved by Steffi Graf in 1986 when she won her first 7), being named the WTA's Most Improved Player at its end, as well as being named ESPN Center Court's 2013 Most Improved Player.[4] Halep reached the 2014 French Open final, her first Grand Slam final, where she played against Maria Sharapova, losing in three sets. She also reached the final of the WTA Finals the same year, losing to Serena Williams in straight sets after having defeated her earlier in the tournament.[5]

Halep has been the most clicked player on WTATennis.com for two consecutive years (2014–2015), when she was awarded the WTA Most Popular Player of the Year prize.[6]

Career

Early years

Simona Halep was born in the Dobrujan city of Constanța, to Stere and Tania Halep,[7] a family of Aromanian descent.[8][9] Her father, a former football player at Săgeata Stejaru playing in the lower leagues, owns a dairy products factory.[10][11][12]

"I just thought that she serves well to be her height. She has so much power on her serve.
That's actually really awesome. It's always hard to play with such power on grass court."

Serena Williams, on Simona Halep in 2011 after the 3–6, 6–2, 6–1 fightback at Wimbledon.[13]

Halep started playing tennis at the age of four, in emulation of her older brother.[14] At age 6, she was practicing daily.[9][15] At age 16, she relocated to Bucharest to further her tennis career.[16][17] She named Justine Henin and Andrei Pavel as two of her idols when she was younger.[18]

Halep with the French Open Junior Championship trophy in 2008

2008–09: Junior slam title

She started the year 2008 playing in junior competitions, reaching the final in Nottinghill, where she lost to Arantxa Rus, then defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open Junior Championships, before losing in the semifinal to Jessica Moore. She went on to win a pair events in May and June. First, a victory in the finals at Trofeo Bonfiglio, winning over Bojana Jovanovski in two sets.[19] Then, at the Roland Garros Junior Championships, she entered the main draw as the 9th seed. In the first round, she defeated Charlotte Rodier, then Karen Barbat from Denmark, and in the 3rd round Halep won against 5th seed Jessica Moore, in straight sets. In the quarterfinals, she beat 13th seed Ksenia Lykina, and in the semifinals, Halep defeated second seed Arantxa Rus. She closed things by winning the all–Romanian final in three sets against 10th seed Elena Bogdan.[20]

She also started entering senior developmental ITF tournaments in the spring. Success arrived when she won two smaller ITF $10,000 tournaments in Bucharest (1 & 3) in April–May, against Elena Bogdan[21] and then against Stéphanie Vongsouthi.[22]

At the main ITF $50,000 tournament in Bucharest (2) in May, Halep eliminated former Roland Garros quarterfinalist Sesil Karatantcheva in the first round, before losing in the quarterfinals to fellow countrywoman Sorana Cîrstea in three sets. That was followed in June by a victory at the ITF $25,000 tournament in Sweden at Kristinehamn, by defeating the 5th seeded Anne Schaefer in the final.[21]

She continued to play on the ITF circuit the entire of 2009, while also entering qualifying for main WTA tournaments at Paris Indoors in February and Roland Garros in May, losing in the 2nd round each time.

In April and May she met the first real successes. First, at the ITF $50,000 tournament in Makarska, Halep began her campaign with wins over Ana Vrljić of Croatia and an upset victory over Ksenia Pervak. She defeated Anne Schäfer, without dropping a game, and beat second seeded Arantxa Rus to advance to the final. However, Halep fell to the top seed Tatjana Malek in three sets.[23] She then reached the quarterfinals at the Bucharest ITF $100,000 tournament, losing to Andrea Petkovic.[24]

Making her first attempt to qualify for a senior Grand Slam tournament at Roland Garros, she defeated 17th seed Michaëlla Krajicek in her first match, but fell to Vitalia Diatchenko, in three sets in the following round.[25]

In August, Halep won the ITF $25,000 tournament in Maribor, defeating top seed Katalin Marosi in the final in two sets.[26] She also made the semifinals of the indoors ITF $50,000 tournament in Minsk, Belarus and ITF $25,000 tournament in Opole, Poland in November.[21]

At almost 18 years old, Halep decided that her large breasts were interfering with her game. She underwent breast reduction to reduce her bust size to 34C from 34DD. She explained the decision, saying, "It's the weight that troubles me. My ability to react quickly, my breasts make me uncomfortable when I play. I don’t like them in my everyday life, either. I would have gone for surgery even if I hadn’t been a sportswoman."[27] She also experienced back pain.[28] She later revealed her reduced bust size at the French Open in May 2010.[27] After the surgery, she moved up constantly in the world rankings,[28] reaching World No.2 in 2014.

2010–12: Progress to Top 50

At Wimbledon

In January she entered the Australian Open, but lost to Stéphanie Foretz of France in the first round of qualifying.[29] She was ranked 166 in the world as of 5 April 2010.[21] Her breakthrough on the WTA tour occurred during the 2010 Andalucia Tennis Experience on the clay courts of Marbella, Spain. As a qualifier, she advanced to the quarterfinals with wins over world No. 70 Iveta Benešová and world No. 36 Sorana Cîrstea. She then put up a fight against world No. 16 Flavia Pennetta, but was finally beaten by the No. 2 seed. Halep then qualified for the 2010 Barcelona Ladies Open by winning 3 matches, but was defeated in the first round of the main draw by Carla Suárez Navarro. Halep's impressive form continued into the 2010 Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem in Fes. Seeded first in the qualifying round,[30] she qualified by defeating Nathalie Viérin and Estrella Cabeza Candela. In the first round she defeated No. 8 seed Lucie Hradecká in two sets. In the second round she defeated Olga Savchuk before causing a big upset in the quarter-finals where she defeated No. 2 seed and former top 10 player Patty Schnyder in straight sets. In the semi-final she defeated Renata Voráčová to advance to her first WTA Tour Tournament final. But she lost to Voráčová's Czech compatriot Iveta Benešová in final. In May 2010 Halep qualified for the French Open, defeating Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the final round of qualifying.[31] She was defeated in two sets in the first round by seventh seed and eventual finalist Samantha Stosur.[32] In August 2010 Halep faced Jelena Janković at the US Open in the first round. Halep had a chance to win an upset victory over Janković but was broken while serving for the match at 5–4 in the third. In the end, Janković won in three sets.[33]

In January, she reached the quarterfinals in the 2011 ASB Classic defeating Ayumi Morita and Elena Vesnina, but losing to the second seed, Yanina Wickmayer. She would go then to the 2011 Moorilla Hobart International but she would lose in the third qualifying round, in a decisive set against Magdaléna Rybáriková. At the 2011 Australian Open, Halep qualified for the first time in her career in the third round of a tennis Grand Slam on seniors, beating the 24th seed Alisa Kleybanova before losing in straight sets to the 12th seed Agnieszka Radwańska and not progressing to the fourth round. In April at the 2010 Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, she repeated her prior year's accomplishment of reaching the finals but lost to Alberta Brianti in straight sets.

Halep on clay, at the 2011 BCR Open Romania Ladies

At the 2011 Estoril Open, she was defeated in the first round by the eventual champion Anabel Medina Garrigues in two tiebreaks. At the 2011 French Open, Halep beat Alla Kudryavtseva, then lost to 8th seed Samantha Stosur in the second round.[34] In the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, Halep defeated Bojana Jovanovski before falling to 7th seed Serena Williams in three sets in the second round.[35] For the 2011 BCR Open Romania Ladies, Halep was top seeded and progressed to the semi-finals, defeating Maša Zec Peškirič, Lenka Juríková and Alexandra Cadanţu en route. However, she lost to Laura Pous Tió in the semi-finals.

Halep qualified for the main draw at the 2011 Rogers Cup in Toronto but drew 12th-seeded (and 15th-ranked) Svetlana Kuznetsova as her first opponent. After dropping the first set, Halep came back to win in a 2:14 long match that saw Kuznetsova make 50 unforced errors.[36][37] It was Halep's first victory over a top-20 ranked player.[38] She lost to Lucie Šafářová in the second round.[39]

At the 2011 US Open, Halep was placed in the main draw but drew Li Na in the first round. Despite playing with an ankle sprain she had suffered in Toronto earlier in the month,[40][41][42] Halep defeated the 6th-seeded Li in a match that saw Li make 54 unforced errors to Halep's 19.[43][44][45] It was Halep's first win over a top-10 ranked player.[46] She lost in the second round to Carla Suárez Navarro in three sets.[47]

In October at the BGL Luxembourg Open, Halep faced Kimiko Date-Krumm in the first round and defeated the former fourth-ranked player in straight sets.[48] She fell in the second round to Anastasija Sevastova[49]

Halep lost in the first round of the 2012 Australian Open after making the quarterfinals at Hobart. She then made it to the 3rd round of the 2012 Indian Wells Masters and the 2012 Miami Masters. Halep then went on to make the quarterfinals in Barcelona and the semifinals at Fes. She was beaten in Madrid and Rome by Venus Williams in the first round of both tournaments.

Halep played at the 2012 Brussels Open in a tune up for the 2012 French Open. She shocked former world No. 1 Jelena Janković in the first round, and rallied against No. 4 seed Dominika Cibulková in the quarterfinals from a set down to advance to the semifinals of the WTA Premier event.

2013: Breakthrough; six WTA titles

Simona Halep at the New Haven Open

Halep began the year as the Romanian No. 2, ranked No. 47 in the world, 20 places behind Sorana Cîrstea. Her first three tournaments, ASB Classic, Hobart International and Australian Open, ended in defeats. Her first major tournament breakthrough came at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in May, gaining three of the biggest victories of her career. Halep defeated two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, world No. 4 Agnieszka Radwańska,[50] and two-time tournament champion and former world No. 1 Jelena Janković (but saved 2 match points) to reach the semifinals,[51] where she was defeated soundly by eventual champion Serena Williams in straight sets.[52] She later said that "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."[53] At the French Open, Halep suffered her second successive first-round exit at a Grand Slam, falling to Carla Suárez Navarro, despite taking the first set comfortably. She rebounded well, however, going on to win her first two WTA titles back-to-back, first at the Nürnberger Versicherungscup in June, where she defeated Andrea Petkovic in the final, and then at the Topshelf Open, where she defeated world No. 11 Roberta Vinci with the loss of just one game in the second round, before defeating Kirsten Flipkens in the final. She became the first Romanian tennis player to win back-to-back tournaments on different surfaces. She claimed her first Grand Slam match win of the year at Wimbledon, defeating Olga Govortsova of Belarus, before falling to Li Na in three sets. After Wimbledon, in July, Halep entered the top-30 rankings for the first time.

Following the grass-court season, Halep went on to win her third title of the year, at the Budapest Grand Prix, where she defeated Sesil Karatantcheva, Ágnes Bukta, Tímea Babos, and fellow Romanian Alexandra Cadanțu en route to her third final of the year. She defeated Austrian Yvonne Meusburger in three sets to win her third WTA title. In the second round of Cincinnati, Halep beat Marion Bartoli in the second round in what was Bartoli's last match of her career. She then beat Samantha Stosur to reach the quarterfinals, where she once again lost to Serena Williams. She won her fourth WTA title, and first in a Premier level tournament, at the New Haven Open, defeating Petra Kvitová in the final in straight sets, which meant she entered the top-20 for the first time, at No. 19.[54] At the US Open, Halep reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career, where she ultimately lost to Italian Flavia Pennetta in two sets. She then went on to win her fifth title of the year, and her second at a Premier event, beating Samantha Stosur in the final of the Kremlin Cup. As a result of her highly successful summer, Halep became the only player of the year to win titles on clay, grass, hard, and indoor courts, as well as the second most successful player behind Serena Williams in terms of number of titles won. In November, Halep defeated former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic to reach the final of the WTA Tournament of Champions, her ninth career final and sixth of the year. She defeated Samantha Stosur in three sets for her sixth WTA title of the season. She finished her breakthrough year ranked No. 11 in the world.

On 21 November 2013, she won the award WTA's Most Improved Player Of The Year for 2013.[55] In December 2013, she was also named ESPN Center Court's 2013 Most Improved Player.[4]

2014: Reaching Top 2, first Major final & WTA Finals debut

Halep posing with the trophy after winning the Qatar Open

Halep began the year at the Sydney International in January, where she was the number 7 seed in a draw that contained 6 of the WTA's top 10, however was knocked out in her opening match against up and coming American Madison Keys, her first loss since September.[56]

She then headed to Melbourne for the Australian Open, where she was the number 11 seed. In her opening match she faced qualifier Katarzyna Piter, defeating the Pole in 54 minutes, dropping just one game throughout the whole match. She next faced the American Varvara Lepchenko where she dropped the first set, but easily won the next two sets. In the third round, she defeated the qualifier Zarina Diyas in two sets, setting up a fourth round meeting with Jelena Janković. Halep defeated the former number one in the world in three sets and qualified for the first time in her career in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam.[57] Halep then lost to eventual finalist Dominika Cibulková.

At the 2014 French Open

With the points gained at the Australian Open, she moved to number 10 in the WTA Rankings, becoming only the fourth Romanian player to enter the Top 10, after Mariana Simionescu, Virginia Ruzici and Irina Spîrlea.[58]

On 16 February 2014, Halep competed in the final of the Qatar Open, defeating Angelique Kerber in straight sets to win her first ever Premier 5 tournament. Halep described it as "one of the best moments of my life". Then in March, as a result of defeating Casey Dellacqua at the BNP Paribas Open quarterfinals, she rose to number 5 in the world, becoming the highest-ranked Romanian in the history of the WTA.

In May, Halep reached her first WTA Premier Mandatory final at the Mutua Madrid Open, but after winning the first set for the loss of only one game, she lost to eighth seed Maria Sharapova in three sets. Her run to the final included wins over former Grand Slam champions Ana Ivanovic and Petra Kvitová in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively.[59] Despite having to withdraw from the Internazionali BNL d'Italia after her second round win due to injury, Halep entered the top four in the rankings for the first time in the week starting 19 May 2014.[60]

Halep entered the French Open as the number 4 seed, and dropped just 11 games in her opening three rounds against Alisa Kleybanova, Heather Watson and María Teresa Torró Flor respectively. After defeating Sloane Stephens in the fourth round, Halep reached her second consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal, where she defeated former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. She reached her first Major final by defeating 28th seeded German Andrea Petkovic in the semifinals, which ensured that Halep would be world No. 3 and the first Romanian since Virginia Ruzici in 1980 to reach a Major final.[61] Halep is also the first player since Martina Hingis in the 1997 Australian Open to reach her first Grand Slam final without losing a set.[62] In the final, Halep lost to Maria Sharapova in a match lasting over three hours, in a re-match of the Madrid Open final staged a few weeks prior.

At Wimbledon, Halep made it through her first four rounds with relative ease, dropping just one set on her way to a third consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal. She then defeated last year's finalist Sabine Lisicki in straight sets to reach the semifinals at Wimbledon for the first time, where she faced Canadian Eugenie Bouchard for a place in the final. Halep lost in straight sets, an ankle injury suffered in the first set proving to be her downfall. Halep then returned to her home of Romania to play the inaugural 2014 Bucharest Open, winning the final in straight sets against Roberta Vinci to clinch her second title of the year.

On 11 August, Halep rose to second in the world rankings, overtaking Li Na; this was despite her non-participation at the Rogers Cup, where Li was a semi-finalist last year but was forced to withdraw from the tournament this year due to a knee injury.[63] Halep returned at Cincinnati, where after being given a first round bye as the second seed, she defeated Kirsten Flipkens and Lucie Šafářová in straight sets, before losing for a fifth time (and third this year) to Maria Sharapova in the quarter-finals.[64] At the US Open, Halep the 2nd seed reached the third round where she was upset by the resurgent Mirjana Lučić-Baroni in straight sets.

Simona Halep (third from right) at the 2014 WTA Finals

Halep won her first ever WTA Finals match, beating fellow Finals debutante Eugenie Bouchard in straight sets. On 22 October 2014, Halep stunned two-time defending champion Serena Williams. Williams's two games won equaled her career worst; the last time Williams managed to win just two games in a WTA Tour or Grand Slam match was in 1998 when she was just 16 years old.[65] Halep could have eliminated Williams from the tournament had she lost her final round-robin match to Ana Ivanovic in straight sets; however, Halep chose to play to win the match and ended up losing in three sets. Despite the defeat, Halep won her group and secured an appearance in the semifinals. She advanced to the final by beating Agnieszka Radwańska in straight sets. In the final match, she once again faced Williams, but this time lost in straight sets.[66]

2015: First WTA Premier Mandatory title, US Open semis

Halep started the year ranked 3rd. In the first half of January 2015, Halep played at the Shenzhen Open where she was the top seed, winning her 9th WTA title against No. 47 Timea Bacsinszky.[67][68] Halep then pulled out of Sydney due to illness.

Next, Halep played at the Australian Open, where she was seeded 3rd. Halep secured keeping her No. 3 ranking after winning her first 4 matches against unseeded Karin Knapp, Jarmila Gajdošová, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Yanina Wickmayer, all in straight sets.[69] However, she lost against the 10th seed Ekaterina Makarova[70] in the quarterfinals, in two sets.

Simona Halep at the 2015 Italian Open

In February, Halep won her tenth WTA title (and her 2nd Premier 5 tournament) in the hard court event at Dubai, where she beat Ekaterina Makarova in the quarterfinals, then Caroline Wozniacki in the semifinals and Karolína Plíšková in the final.[71][72] With this title win, she regained her No. 3 WTA ranking.[73][74] However, Halep pulled out of the following event Doha with a rib injury.

In March, Halep played at the Indian Wells Masters despite learning of a cousin's suicide earlier in the week. She won three-set matches against Daria Gavrilova and Varvara Lepchenko before beating Karolína Plíšková in two tight sets in the fourth round. Halep then beat Carla Suárez Navarro in three sets to reach the semifinals of the event for the second straight year. She made it to the final after world No. 1 Serena Williams withdrew with a right knee injury. Halep won the final match against the eighteenth seed Jelena Janković in three sets to claim her biggest career title to date and take over the lead in the Road to Singapore.[75]

Halep did well again in Miami, reaching the semifinals, where she lost in a tough match to eventual winner, No. 1 Serena Williams.

In April, in Stuttgart, Halep reached the semifinals after defeating Garbiñe Muguruza and Sara Errani, but she lost in a three-hour match to Caroline Wozniacki. With this, she climbed up again to No. 2 in the WTA rankings.[76]

In May, Halep lost in the 1st round in Madrid to Alizé Cornet, but then in the Italian Open she had a good run, losing only 7 games in the first 3 matches. She beat Alison Riske, Venus Williams and Alexandra Dulgheru. But in the semifinals she lost to seed No. 4 Carla Suárez Navarro in a long three set match. Due to Maria Sharapova reaching the final (and eventually winning it), Halep went again to No. 3 in the WTA rankings.

During the grass season, she reached the quarterfinals in Birmingham. At Wimbledon, she was one of six seeded female players to be knocked out in the first round, losing to Jana Čepelová 5-7,6-4,6-3. During her match against Čepelová, Halep suffered a blister on the middle toe of her left foot. After Wimbledon, Halep took a couple of weeks off to regroup and make her game stronger again.

In Toronto, Halep resumed her good game, winning against Jelena Janković, Angelique Kerber, Agnieszka Radwańska and Sara Errani, thus reaching the final to play against rising star Belinda Bencic (who had ousted 5 slam finalists en route to the finals). After two exhausting tiebreaks, Halep retired due to a leg injury and the extreme heat in the final set.[77] In Cincinnati, Halep continued her good form, defeating Kristina Mladenovic, Andrea Petkovic, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Jelena Janković en route to her fifth final of the year, where she was beaten by world No. 1 Serena Williams. With this, Halep again climbed up to world No.2. Also, she became the second player to qualify for Singapore 2015 WTA Finals, after Serena Williams.

As no.2 seed at the 2015 US Open, Halep reached the semifinals (her best performance to date at this Grand Slam, and her best Grand Slam evolution in 2015) after defeating in straight sets Marina Erakovic, Kateryna Bondarenko and Shelby Rogers, then in 3 sets Sabine Lisicki and former no.1 Victoria Azarenka. In the semis, she lost in 2 sets to eventual winner Flavia Pennetta. She also played for the first time in the mixed doubles tournament, paired with conational Horia Tecău, and they won 2 matches but withdrew before the quarterfinals.

Halep resumed the tour in Guangzhou, first seeded, winning in 2 sets to qualifier Petra Martić and to Tímea Babos, but then she lost in quarterfinals to young Denisa Allertova, apparently just training for the next tournament in that hot and humid climate of South China. Seeded no.1 in Wuhan, a Premier 5 tournament, Halep easily defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2,6-1 in the second round, but then she lost a thriller match to Johanna Konta 3-6,6-3,5-7 (after leading 5-1 in the final set). In Beijing, Halep had to retire during the first set of her opener, due to injury.

With world no.1 Serena Williams not playing in Singapore, Halep was seeded no.1 in the 2015 WTA Finals, and she started very well her evolution in Singapore, with a 6-0,6-3 stun over recent US Open winner Flavia Pennetta. After losing in two sets both to Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwańska, she failed to qualify further. Yet, she kept her 2nd position in WTA rankings.

2016: Early struggles with form

After missing the Brisbane International due to an achilles injury, Halep started the season in the Sydney where she reached the semifinals by defeating Caroline Garcia and Karolína Plíšková, but she lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova in three sets. Then, at the Australian Open, she lost in straight sets in the first round to Shuai Zhang. Halep later revealed through a social media statement that she was struggling with an ongoing nose issue. In the same statement, she announced a surgery to fix the issue, having to withdraw from the Dubai Tennis Championships, where she was the defending champion, and from the Qatar Open.[78] Halep would also miss Romania's Fed Cup tie; however, she postponed her surgery and stated in early February that she was able to join the squad for their matches against Czech Republic, as well as play in both Doha and Dubai, saying she had "started to play good tennis".[79] [80][81] In the Fed Cup, she lost her first match to Karolína Plíšková (also losing to her for the first time in four meetings)[82] but rebounded to defeat Petra Kvitová for the third time in as many meetings in her second match;[83] it was, however, not enough for Romania to advance to the semi-finals. Then, in Dubai, where she was the defending champion, she was defeated by former world number one Ana Ivanovic in her first match.[84] She suffered yet another opening round loss to Elena Vesnina at the Qatar Open a week after her Dubai defeat, dropping two spots to world no.5.[85]

Endorsements

Simona Halep's current clothing sponsor is Adidas, having previously had her apparel supplied by Lacoste and her shoes by Nike.[86] She also signed a deal with Vodafone Romania for 3 years.[87]

Coaches

She was coached from an early age by Ioan Stan, a local tennis coach in Constanța.[16]

In January 2014, Simona Halep hired Belgian coach Wim Fissette, former coach of Kim Clijsters and Sabine Lisicki.[88] At the end of the year, she chose to split with him[89] and hired Romanian coach Victor Ioniță, with Thomas Högstedt serving as a coaching consultant for the first three tournaments of the year.[90] She is managed by Virginia Ruzici.[21] Her fitness coach is Teo Cercel.[91]

In November 2015, Halep has announced that Darren Cahill will be her full-time coach, starting in January 2016.[92]

In the past, Halep has been coached by Adrian Marcu,[93] Andrei Mlendea and Firicel Tomai.[94]

Playing style

Simona Halep has self-described her playing style as being "an aggressive baseliner" [14] and "she models her game on Justine Henin".[95] Henin herself said of Halep, "She has an intelligent game. There is a little something that reminds me of myself... it is offensive and aggressive."[96]

In 2010, before her breakthrough, New York Times columnist Michael Kimmelman described her as "a scrappy player from Romania, short but with potent ground strokes and a scrambler's talent."[97]

By 2014, Louisa Thomas of Grantland was writing with admiration that "it turns out that [Simona] is astonishingly fast. She started to think ahead during points [...] she has uncanny anticipation. She became even faster [...] her strokes became more simple: compact, beautiful, unreadable. [...] she learned to disrupt the opposition's rhythm and disguise her own. At her best, she does not play in patterns. She hits with surprising power. She covers the whole court. She hits balls with heavy power without making a sound. [...] Like Djokovic she has a talent for hitting winners from defensive positions. She is a defensive aggressor, an aggressive defender. She is becoming unclassifiable." [98] After Halep finished runner-up in her first Grand Slam final against powerful hitter Maria Sharapova in Roland Garros in 2014, Eleanor Crooks of The Independent wrote that Halep "has a lovely fluidity of movement and superb balance that enables her to comfortably trade with more powerful players".[99] Michael Beattie of Wimbledon.org also noticed that [Halep] "is free of the shrieks, tics and fist-pumps of her contemporaries." [100]

In terms of tennis strategy Halep is an aggressive counterpuncher. Her very fit body and athleticism provide her with very good all-court movement and she tends to make few errors; she also uses this agility to reach the ball earlier because of her wide back swings and sliding. At the same time she likes to control the rally and can hit very effective cross-court and down-the-line flat shots, generally producing winners.[101]

Grand Slam tournament finals

Singles: 1 (0–1)

Outcome Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Runner-up 2014 French Open Clay Russia Maria Sharapova 4–6, 7–6(7–5), 4–6

Career statistics

Main article: Simona Halep career statistics
Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# P# DNQ A Z# PO G S B NMS NTI P NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open Q1 3R 1R 1R QF QF 1R 0 / 6 10–6 62.5%
French Open 1R 2R 1R 1R F 2R 0 / 6 8–6 57.14%
Wimbledon Q1 2R 1R 2R SF 1R 0 / 5 7–5 58.33%
US Open 1R 2R 2R 4R 3R SF 0 / 5 12–6 66.67%
Win–Loss 0–2 5–4 1–4 4–4 17–4 10–4 0-1 0 / 22 37–23 61.67%

Doubles performance timeline

Tournament 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open 1R 1R 1R 1R A 0 / 4 0–4 0%
French Open 1R 2R 1R A A 0 / 3 1–2 33.33%
Wimbledon 1R 1R 1R A 1R 0 / 4 0–4 0%
US Open 2R 1R 1R A A 0 / 3 1–3 25%
Win–Loss 1–4 1–3 0–4 0–1 0–1 0 / 14 2–13 13.33%

Mixed

Tournament 2015 SR W–L Win%
Australian Open A 0 / 0 0–0 0%
French Open A 0 / 0 0–0 0%
Wimbledon A 0 / 0 0–0 0%
US Open QF 0 / 1 2−0 100%
Win–Loss 2–0 0 / 1 2−0 100%

See also

References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Simona Halep.
Awards
Preceded by WTA Most Improved Player
2013 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Romania Simona Halep
 Wtatennis.com Most Popular Player of the Year
2014 – 2015 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
Awards
Preceded by
N/A
 ESPN Center Court's Most Improved Player
2013 		Succeeded by
N/A
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Simona_Halep&oldid=708027866"