"When I wake up in the morning, I no longer feel pain," says Halep

Simona Halep is enjoying her retirement. The Romanian, former world number 1, announced the end of her career last February. Struggling physically after recurring knee and shoulder injuries, the two-time Grand Slam winner will also be present at Wimbledon, a tournament she won in 2019, to attend the women's singles final between Amanda Anisimova and Iga Swiatek this Saturday.

Before making her return to London for the first time in three years after her last participation as a player, Halep assured that she felt better physically, especially in her knee, a part of her body that has troubled her in recent months, but she did not regret having retired.

"I miss tennis, but I'm fine without it, as I said. I don't feel like I've stopped for very long as a player, but physically, the legs, the movements… Everything was becoming complicated and it was no longer at the expected level for high-performance sports.

I was tired, I think I was also too emotional on the court. I wasn't 100% ready to retire, but that's what I felt during the match against Bronzetti (in Cluj in February), because it was too hard to think about continuing.

I mean it wasn't a goal to stop or anything else, it was simply a release. When I wake up in the morning, I no longer feel pain, which is very new for me.

When I go to the gym, when I run for 30 to 40 minutes, my knee hurts afterward. It's a fairly serious problem, but it doesn't stop me from running.

Maybe if I decided to start running again, I wouldn't be able to, but day-to-day, it doesn't affect me. It's quite a significant issue, which may have also pushed me to retire, I think.

Emotionally, the last two or three years have been difficult, and it's because of all those moments that I decided to retire," the former 33-year-old player explained to Golazo.