"I hope to be healthy and fit to play": Simona Halep teases comeback after lengthy injury and doping ban struggles

Former world No. 1 Simona Halep changes her calendar after injury following doping ban. The 2-time Grand Slam champion faced a doping suspension after the 2022 US Open, which would have kept her off the courts for four years. She appealed the suspension to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and at the beginning of this season, her sanction was reduced to nine months, allowing her to return to the Tour immediately.

However, the Romanian’s full return to the Tour was frustrated, as since her suspension was lifted in March this year, she has only played two events. She returned at the Miami Open after 19 months and fell in the first round to Paula Badosa, 6-1, 4-6, 3-6, in a more than respectable performance.

Two months later, she had her second appearance at the WTA 125 in Paris, where she withdrew during her match against Miranda Kessler, with the score 7-5, 2-3 in favor of Halep. A knee injury prevented her from finishing the match, and since then, she has not returned to the Tour.

When Halep received the suspension, she had recently reached world No. 6, following her title at the 2022 Canadian Open. However, the long absence left her without a ranking, and currently, with just two tournaments played, she is ranked world No. 1135.

For this reason, Halep faces difficulties in entering the main draws of tournaments and must wait for wildcards to compete again at the WTA-Tour level. The Romanian has now provided an update on her potential next tournament, though she acknowledged that she is not yet physically well.

"It's hard to say now because I'm still recovering with my knee. I plan to play a tournament in Hong Kong at the end of October," the 32-year-old said. "I would really like to because I miss it, and I hope to be healthy and fit to play. This is the plan now."

In July of this year, after retiring from the WTA 125 in Paris, the Romanian announced to her fans that she would take a break while recovering from her knee injury: "Hi everyone, I wanted to provide a little health update since I have been away from the court lately. It is not the best news, but I wanted to share all the same. For a few months now, I have been struggling with a knee injury," she wrote.

"It’s an injury I have never had before and it has been a tough one to manage, with the pain persisting. It has been a very difficult period (almost two years) mentally and emotionally for me, and struggling physically on top of that definitely doesn’t help,” she added.

"I have decided to take the time needed to recover properly, rather than training and playing through pain. My instinct has always been to try to come back as soon as possible, but I am not a machine, I am a human being, and I need time to recover from everything I have gone through,” Halep concluded.