Simona Halep’s decorated career is being reflected on after she announced her retirement at the Transylvania Open.
Halep had hinted that she would be retiring prior to her home tournament, before confirming the rumours after her first round loss to Lucia Bronzetti.
The Romanian has only played six matches since the 2022 US Open, where Halep tested positive for banned substance roxadustat.
Originally Halep received a four year suspension, but had it reduced down to just nine months and she was able to return at the 2024 Miami Open.
However, since then the former world number one has struggled with a knee injury, and Halep could not play the Australian Open after receiving a wildcard to play in qualifying.
Despite the controversy surrounding the doping ban, Halep has received messages from Billie Jean King amongst others since announcing her retirement.
Simona Halep’s record against Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff
Halep is a two-time Grand Slam champion, and won a total of 24 titles throughout her decorated career.
This includes beating Serena Williams in the Wimbledon final, adding to her maiden Grand Slam title from Roland Garros in 2018.
Halep’s head-to-head against many of the top players stands out, with a positive record against two of the current top three ranked WTA players.
The 33-year-old has won three of her five meetings against world number one Aryna Sabalenka, and has never lost to Coco Gauff.
In-fact Halep has been so dominant over Gauff that she has never lost a single set to her, with their first meeting coming at Wimbledon when the American was just 15-years-old.
Swiatek, who Halep has been critical of, is the only member of the current top three not to have a losing record.
Two of their four meetings have come on the clay in Paris, including when Swiatek won her first Roland Garros title in 2020.
The current top three are not the only players that Halep has an advantage over, also having winning records over Naomi Osaka, Ash Barty, Victoria Azarenka and Petra Kvitova, who is returning soon.
| Opponent | Head-to-head record with Halep | Last meeting |
| Aryna Sabalenka | 3-2 Halep | Sabalenka beat Halep, 6-3 6-2 (Stuttgart SF, 2021) |
| Iga Swiatek | 2-2 | Swiatek beat Halep, 7-6(6) 6-4 (Indian Wells SF, 2022) |
| Coco Gauff | 4-0 Halep | Halep beat Gauff, 6-4 7-6(2) (Toronto QF, 2022) |
| Naomi Osaka | 4-1 Halep | Halep beat Osaka, 6-1 6-0 (Rome R32, 2018) |
| Ash Barty | 3-1 Halep | Halep beat Barty, 7-5 7-5 (Madrid QF, 2019) |
| Elena Rybakina | 2-2 | Rybakina beat Halep, 6-3 6-3 (Wimbledon SF, 2022) |
| Victoria Azarenka | 3-2 Halep | Halep beat Azarenka, 6-3 6-1 (Wimbledon R32, 2019) |
| Petra Kvitova | 3-1 Halep | Kvitova beat Halep, 6-1 6-2 (Wuhan SF, 2016) |
Simona Halep’s record at WTA 1000 tournaments only bettered by Victoria Azarenka
Out of Halep’s 24 titles, over a third of them have come at WTA 1000 level events including her final trophy lift at the Canadian Open.
Halep has won 72% (186) of her 259 matches at these events, with only Azarenka (205*) winning more than her.
This has led to Halep winning titles in Doha, Dubai, Indian Wells, Madrid (2), Rome, Montreal (2) and Toronto.
These wins have enabled Halep to be WTA world number one for a total of 64 weeks, as the only Romanian player in history to do so.
While Halep was never able to win her home tournament at the Transylvania Open, she twice won a title on clay in the Romanian capital of Bucharest.
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