By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday April 27, 2022
Growing a family is on Simona Halep’s to do list, but the list will have to wait because the Romanian has more pressing matters to take care of first.
The 30-year-old World No.1 is hungry to climb back up the WTA’s rankings, and after pairing with Patrick Mouratoglou during the clay season, she says the fire is well and truly back in her belly.
“I would really love to have kids but they can wait a bit more because I have this pleasure I don’t want to give up,” Halep told Tennis Majors in an exclusive video.
Halep said she struggled mightily in 2021 when calf injury sabotaged her season and caused her to contemplate retirement after she missed four months and was not able to compete at Roland Garros, Wimbledon or the Olympics.
“I didn’t believe I would come back at the same level after the injury, because I was off about four months,” she said. “I had never been off four months from tennis, so I struggled big time last year. And also I thought at 30 it’s a good age to retire.
“But then I discovered [what it was like to train at the Mouratoglou] academy, I discovered something, the fire is back in my inside for tennis. Seeing the kids here doing everything possible to be at the top, I have it back. I needed that, to see it in other people, in other kids, and I have it back.”
Halep will face China’s Zhang Shuai in the first round at Madrid, with the winner going on to face No.2-seeded Paula Badosa.