Simona Halep releases statement after retiring from second match back after doping ban

Simona Halep has spoken out after she retired from the Trophee Clarins. The former world No. 1 was playing in just her second match back from a doping suspension and took the first set over McCartney Kessler before she started to struggle physically.

Halep has yet to win a match since she had her suspension reduced from four years to nine months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in March, which allowed her to return to competition immediately. She has only played in two tournaments, failing to get out of the first round.

The two-time Grand Slam champion received a wildcard into this week’s WTA 125 event in Paris where she came up against world No. 124 Kessler in the first round. Halep came back from a break down three times in a close opening set and broke the American for a fourth time to take it 7-5 after 58 minutes.

Halep went down a break immediately in the second set as the physical issue started to set in and she retired with a knee injury at 7-5 2-3, having spent an hour and a half on the court. The Romanian has now issued a statement, explaining that she has been struggling with the injury since she made her comeback in Miami.

“Well, yesterday didn’t go as I hoped on court. The knee pain that has been lingering since Miami came back and unfortunately I couldn’t continue,” Halep wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).

“It’s not the way I would have liked to spend my time in Paris, but no one said this comeback was going to be easy. I will rest and then keep working and keep believing in my journey. Thank you to those of you supporting me, I see your messages and they mean the world to me.”

Halep immediately returned from her doping suspension at the Miami Open in March when she received a wildcard. She took the first set against Paula Badosa before going out 1-6 6-4 6-3.

She was then set to play in the Madrid Open but pulled out in order to work on her fitness, saying she needed more time to be physically ready to compete after spending 18 months on the sidelines during her ban. And it appears that her body is still adjusting to high-level competition after the issues in Paris.

It remains to be seen when and where Halep will next play a match as she did not receive a wildcard into the French Open despite being a former champion. The snub did not come as a surprise, as the French Tennis Federation also opted not to give two-time winner Maria Sharapova a wildcard when she returned from her own doping ban in 2017.