The first two months of 2017 have been filled with disappointment for former French Open finalist Simona Halep.
Hindered by a knee injury, the Romanian has only won two competitive matches on the tour this season. At the Australian Open she crashed out in the opening round for the second consecutive year. The recent misfortunes of Halep are disheartening, but it has failed to curb her passion for the sport.
“I love the game. I love the competition. When you have nothing to do at home you feel lost a little bit and you feel you are not doing the right things, staying home and not doing anything.” Halep was quoted by wtatennis.com as saying.
“I have a lot of adrenaline when I play. Too many nerves. But when I have a break, I miss that.”
Halep’s return to the tour will be at this week’s BNP Paribas Open, an event that brings back special memories for her. In 2015 she triumphed in three sets over Jelena Jankovic to win the title, becoming the first and so far only Romanian winner of the event.
This time round the 25-year-old enters the Californian tournament with a different kind of goal on her mind. Set to play her first competitive match since withdrawing from last month’s St. Petersburg Open due to injury, the priority of the world No.4 is to compete without pain.
“I’m just happy the pain is not there anymore,” she said. “I cannot think about the results, I cannot think about winning a lot of matches right now because of this knee.”
The relaxed approach taken by Halep doesn’t cover the significance of this month for her. Over the next two tournaments (Indian Wells and Miami) she has to defend a total of 430 points, the sixth highest on the women’s tour. With a lack of match wins under her belt, she is seeking solace from her encouraging practice sessions.
“Still, I play well during the practices. Today (Wednesday) I played a set against a sparring partner and I won the set, so that gives me confidence,” Halep said.
“I prefer to play tournaments, to have matches. My game is much better when I played matches. So my training is playing official matches.” She later added.
Since 2014, Halep has reached the quarter-finals or better at Indian Wells. She will kick-off her 2017 campaign against either Alison Riske or Donna Vekic on SDaturday. Against both players she has a winning head-to-head record of 1-0.
