"So honest, so brave" - Wilander and Henma praise Halep after admission

Simona Halep was praised for being “brave and honest” after revealing she had a panic attack during her French Open defeat on Thursday.

The Romanian called for the trainer and had her pulse and blood pressure taken during her 2-6 6-2 6-1 loss to Chinese teenager Qinwen Zheng in the second round at Roland-Garros. Although she was given the all-clear to play on, she continued to have trouble with her breathing and the trainer came out for a second time.

She said:

“I was playing well at the start. I had a break in the second set, but then something happened. I just lost it. I didn't expect because it was just a panic attack. I didn't know how to handle it, because I don't have it often. Yeah, I don't really know why it happened, because I was leading the match. I was playing well. But just happened, and as I said, I lost it. I couldn't focus.”

Eurosport experts Tim Henman and Mats Wilander saluted Halep for being so open about her panic attack. Henman said:

"First and foremost, we don’t want it to happen, it’s very unfortunate that it does happen. Again, I think it is so brave and so honest for Simona to come in and talk about what happened to her because I feel that can really have a positive impact on others that if they are struggling with a mental health issue that they have the bravery to speak about it and go and get help."

Wilander added:

“It was very scary times for her. You don’t know what’s going on. It was a good move by her to come out and explain what happened, ‘I am smiling and I am ready to keep on going’ So this is a brilliant PR move as well to show her opponents that this is something she had never experienced before.”