Former Halep Communications Director Testifies: "The Injustice Inflicted on Her by the WTA Is Immense"

© AFP

Adrien Guyot

le 05/04/2025 à 10h38

2 min to read

Halep

In February, Simona Halep decided to call it quits. Abandoned by a body that caused her increasing pain and suspended for doping from the 2022 US Open to Miami 2024, the 33-year-old Romanian—a former world No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion—ended her career after participating in the WTA 250 tournament in Cluj-Napoca.

In the first round, she suffered a heavy defeat against Lucia Bronzetti (6-1, 6-1). Cosmin Hodor, Halep's former communications director and now the tournament director in Bucharest, reflected on the retirement of a player he knows intimately.

"It was a spontaneous decision. Knowing Simona, how competitive she is, and the level she once played at, it had become quite difficult for her to stay on the tour.

The injustice the WTA inflicted on her is immense. Some tournaments didn’t want to give her wild cards and preferred to award them to others. Such things are hard for anyone to digest.

Regarding the doping case, it wasn’t fair that as soon as Simona’s positive test came out, everything was immediately revealed to the public. For Swiatek and Sinner, we knew nothing until the end, and only learned about it when a final decision was made.

In the other two cases, I can’t analyze because I have no information about them. But why weren’t people kept informed as they were with Simona?

Of course, at that age, after going through such an ordeal, it’s hard to bounce back. By then, Simona had nothing left to prove. She wasn’t 20 anymore, and she had already achieved world No. 1.

She won many titles, multiple Grand Slams. But at that point, you’re not just battling opponents—you’re fighting yourself too.

When you wake up in the morning, you know you’ll only be at 50% of the level you once had. And ultimately, all of that leads you to a point where you decide to stop," he explained to Golazo.