"All I knew and what I was doing was just tennis" - Simona Halep opens up on life away from tennis after confirming retirement earlier this year

Simona Halep lit up the tennis court when she stepped on it, winning two Grand Slam titles and sitting as world number one for 64 weeks. Now retired, she is struggling to adapt to life away from the court.

The Romanian confirmed her retirement from the sport at the start of this year, after attempting to return from a shortened doping ban. Her return did not see her reach the levels she onced possessed, calling it quits after her opening round defeat at the Transylvania Open.

Whilst speaking at the Impact Bucharest 2025 event, Halep touched on her retirement from the sport, as she said: "Fame for me was not the thing that kept me playing for a long time. I like to be more discreet and that makes me feel more comfortable. But, of course, it is not easy to make such a decision. You live your life... So, it was my whole life until retirement. All I knew and what I was doing was just tennis. That's why it was hard for me to retire. Now is the time to discover."

The 33-year-old achieved a lot of great things in her career, which included becoming a role model for many people around the world. She looks back on her profession with pride, but the journey there was tough.

"When you do something in sports - and I can talk about it - kids look up to you and you can be a role model for them, just like I had role models when I started playing," Halep said. "The pressure to always be extraordinary is not easy. But it's nice to see that kids really follow what you've achieved and I'm very proud of that. It was worth doing everything I did. I can't say that I sacrificed myself for tennis, because I really enjoyed it and loved playing tennis. It was a huge passion every time I stepped on the court, but it certainly wasn't easy.

"When I was almost 17, I left home and left my family behind, so I was only looking forward, wanting to become the best. I did a lot of things better than I thought I would, but in the end it was really good and I think I won the best trophies in the world. The only option was to look ahead and give my best. So it wasn't easy at all if you're not Roger Federer. If you take a defeat as a failure, it's not good, because you have to look at the positive side. When you lose a match, you feel like you're losing your mind, but you pay attention to the things you didn't do well in that match and the next day you can improve. When you win, you're just happy and you move on. You have to get better."

One of the reasons the Romanian saw so much success in her short time at the top was due to her calm and relaxed persona when under pressure. She spoke about how she built it up over the years as she battled with her emotions.

"At the beginning, I have to admit, it was hard, but over the years, with experience, I relaxed," she said. "I had wonderful people around me who taught me to be more relaxed, more open with the press, with people. I tried to open up and manage the pressure. I lost some matches just because of the emotional part. I would have won important matches without those emotions. But I think that's part of me and I had to accept it and try to manage it better in other matches.

"I dedicated my life to tennis and everything I did was in this direction. I had no other direction. Now, with this mentality and experience, I can say that I could have done more things besides tennis, but for me it was only one path. I don't regret it, but, you know, you miss some things over the years, which I now want to discover. But, yes, determination, dedication and consistency, I think, made me one of the best players in the world at one point."

In 2019, Halep defeated 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams in straight sets to seal her first and only Wimbledon title, adding to the Roland Garros victory she won the year before. Despite the occasion and pressure of the match, Halep revealed she was calm, which helped her produce one of her best displays.

"I had no negative emotions, I had no stress before the match. I was very stable and I was able to put everything I knew into play. However, I think you learn more from defeats, because after the match you analyse with the coach, with the team, what you didn't do well and what you need to improve. Very rarely, after a won match, I went back on the field and practiced what didn't work. Usually, after a victory, you go and celebrate, and after a defeat you train more intensely. I was always in competition with myself. I wanted to become better. I wasn't looking left and right at what others were doing, I was just trying to do better today than yesterday. I think that helped me a lot to improve, and the ambition, as I said, was in one direction. I wanted to do everything I could to be one of the best players and it happened."