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Simona Halep joins Emma Raducanu in playing WTA250 event in United States

By TieBreakNewsPosted on
Time to Read:-words

Former world No. 1 Simona Halep has signed up to play the Citi Open in Washington, the tournament announced.

Halep, 30, will be making her second Washington appearance in a month.

Halep made her Washington debut in 2017, when she reached the quarterfinal before retiring injured to Ekaterina Makarova in the quarterfinal.

Now, five years later, Halep is set to return to Washington and kick off her summer hard court swing in the United States capital.

Halep joins a player field that includes 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu.

“Simona Halep is DC bound. Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona_Halep will play the 2022 Citi Open. The field now includes 5 Grand Slam champions, 2 former World No. 1’s & 2 past Citi Open champions. Many more announcements are coming next week. Get your tickets today!” the Citi Open said in a statement.

The Citi Open organizers thrilled to have Halep signed up

The 2021 season was extremely difficult and challenging for Halep.

The thoughts of retirement crossed Halep’s mind many times last season but she decided to give tennis another shot in 2022.

After starting her season with a title at a WTA event in Melbourne and reaching the Australian Open round-of-16, Halep found herself again in a dark place in February and was close to retiring.

ā€œI played well in Australia, but then after I lost in Doha, I was down again,ā€ Halep said in an interview with The Guardian. ā€œI actually told my family and my close ones that I probably am done with tennis because I felt like I have no more power to fight and to stay there to be resilient. Slowly, I just tried to see if I still want it, and I felt like I wanted it but it was very difficult.”

Fortunately for the Citi Open and all tennis fans, Halep is still active and she will certainly be one of the players that will highlight this year’s Washington player field.