Former world number one Simona Halep has announced her retirement from Tennis following her first round exit at the 2025 Transylvania Open.
The Romanian lost 6-1 6-1 to Lucia Bronzetti to crash out of the tournament, she confirmed her retirement after the encounter.
The 33-year-old has been considering retirement because of her battle with knee injury, which forced her to withdraw from Australian Open qualifying January.
She was participating in only her fifth tournament since making a return from a doping ban which lasted for two years.
Halep confirmed that she is retiring with her soul following a successful career.
She said: “I’m making this decision with my soul.
“It’s a beautiful thing. I became world number one, I won Grand Slams, it’s all I wanted. Life goes on, there is life after tennis and I hope that we will see each other again.
“I’ll come to the tennis here as often as I can and of course I will continue to play – but to be competitive it requires much more and at this moment it is no longer.
“I’ve always been realistic with myself and with my body.
“Where I probably was, it’s very hard to get there and I know what it means to get there.”
She won her first major title at the French Open in 2018, and then the Wimbledon Open a year later.
Halep also played in three other Grand Slam finals — the French Open in 2014 and 2017 and the Australian Open in 2018, winning a total of 24 WTA titles over her 19-year career.
