Finalist in 2018
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Simona Halep
Best WTA ranking 1
- Country Romania
- Age 33 years
- Size 1.68 m
- Jeu Right-handed, two-handed backhand
Special feature: First Romanian woman to win the Wimbledon title in 2019
Profile & career
Simona Halep is regarded as one of the best players on the women’s tour in the 2010s and early 2020s for her consistency, Ranked world No 1 in 2017, she has won two Grand Slam titles, Roland Garros 2018 and Wimbledon 2019.
Halep began her collaboration with Patrick Mouratoglou in April 2022 but it was aborted after a few months. They parted ways in October 2022 after the Romanian was suspended for testing positive for food contamination, the punishment for which was only decided by the sporting authorities 15 months later.
HALEP'S TRACK RECORD
Junior career: World No. 1, one Grand Slam title
Simona Halep made her debut on the junior circuit in 2005. In 2006, she won her first four Futures tournaments and was selected in the Fed Cup with Romania. Accompanied by Irina-Camelia Begu and Andreea Mitu, she helped her country to a ninth-place finish that same year.
In the junior Grand Slams, Halep reached the final of the Australian Open in 2008 before winning the French Open against her compatriot Elena Bogdan in the final. Halep became only the second player from her country to win a Junior Grand Slam title since Mariana Simionescu in 1974. This trophy enabled her to reach the world No 1 junior ranking, an excellent way to launch her professional career.
WTA career: a debut in 2010
Winner of 24 titles on the WTA Tour, the Constanta native reached world No 1 in 2017. A few months later, in 2018, she won her first Grand Slam tournament at Roland Garros. In 2019, she took on and beat seven-time winner Serena Williams at Wimbledon to claim her second major. She has also finished runner-up in three other Grand Slam finals.
Halep turned professional in 2006 and made her debut on the WTA Tour in 2010, qualifying for three consecutive tournaments. She reached the final of the last one, in Morocco, losing to Czech Iveta Benesova. These performances saw her leap up the rankings, just a step away from the top 100, which she then entered in July 2010 after a semi-final showing in Biarritz.
The Romanian made her first Grand Slam appearance at Roland Garros that same year, losing in the first round to Australia’s Samantha Stosur.
WTA honours: 24 titles
Halep has won 24 titles on the Tour, including her first in 2013 in Nuremberg (outdoor clay) against Andrea Petkovic in the final and her most recent at the WTA 1000 in Toronto, under the supervision of Patrick Mouratoglou.
Her second title came at Bois-le-Duc, this time on grass, against Kristen Flipkens in the final. Her first title on hard courts came in New Haven in 2013, when she beat Petra Kvitova in the final.
Over the course of her career, the Romanian has won two Grand Slam titles (Roland Garros and Wimbledon) and nine WTA 1000 tournaments. In August 2022, she was crowned champion in Toronto against Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia.
In addition to her 24 titles, she has lost 18 finals on the circuit. She also won a doubles title in 2018, in Shenzhen, with her compatriot Irina-Camelia Begu.
HALEP &
THE GRAND SLAMS
Simona Halep has won two Grand Slam tournaments, at Roland Garros in 2018 and Wimbledon in 2019. She has also reached three other major finals.
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Winner in 2018
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Winner in 2019
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Semi-finalist in 2015
Statistics & records
- World No 1 in 2018 and 2019
- 64 weeks at the top of the WTA rankings
- 2 Grand Slam titles
Its link with the Mouratoglou Academy
The Simona Halep – Patrick Mouratoglou partnership began in April 2022. The Romanian, then down to 20th in the world, had considered retiring from tennis. Now reinvigorated, thanks in particular to her immersion with the young players at the Academy, who reconnected her with her dream, she wanted to get back to the top: “I asked to work with Patrick because I really want to get back to the top. I was lucky that he was available. I’m working every day to win another Grand Slam. I’m going to give it everything I’ve got,” she said. Mouratoglou shared her enthusiasm: “The idea is to do everything possible to make her the best she can be, so that when she retires she can say ‘I did the best I could;.”
After a semi-final run at Wimbledon and a title at the Canadian Open, the partnership was interrupted by her provisional suspension for a positive drugs test in October 2022. Mouratoglou and Halep won their last victory together when their arguments were heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which recognised the food contamination suffered by the player in March 2024 and reduced her ban from four years to nine months. She returned to competition in Miami a few days later.
EQUIPMENT
Racket: Wilson Stringing (main) : Blade 98
Personal Life
& Interests
Simona Halep is the daughter of former footballer Stere Halep and housewife Tania Halep. Her childhood idol was Belgium’s Justine Henin, for the way she played and fought on the court despite her diminutive frame. She loves pizza, chocolate and fresh lemonade. She is in love with Paris, which she considers to be the most beautiful city in the world, and where she won her first Grand Slam, at Roland Garros in 2018. In her spare time, she enjoys shopping and walking in the parks.
