"I felt like my place was no longer there," Halep reflects on her final career match in Cluj-Napoca

Simona Halep caught everyone by surprise last February, announcing her immediate retirement after her first-round defeat at the WTA 250 tournament in Cluj-Napoca.

Halep is now retired. The Romanian, a former world number one, had been invited by the organizers of the WTA 250 tournament in Cluj-Napoca in early February, but she couldn't pose any problems for Lucia Bronzetti (6-1, 6-1).

Following this match, Halep took the microphone on the court and announced in front of her home crowd that she was ending her career at the age of 33. In a recent interview, the two-time Grand Slam champion looked back on that moment when she decided this would be her final appearance on the main tour.

"I had been thinking about it for a while, but when I stepped onto the court, I hadn't yet decided it would be my last match. But I felt like my place was no longer there.

Physically, my knee was hurting and I was suffering. After losing the first set, I made my decision and told myself: 'I'm going to stop after this.' I went to see my parents and told them I wanted to stop.

They replied: 'Okay, announce it.' That's how it happened. No one knew. After that last match, I never thought about going back and returning to the highest level.

That probably means that, deep down, it was the right decision. And now, I feel it. I think it was the best thing to do," Halep stated to The National.