Simona Halep

2016 Quick Hits
Week 1 Ranking: No.2
Year-End Ranking: No.4
Season Highlights: Madrid, Bucharest, Montréal Champion, Singapore RR
Best Major Result: QF (Wimbledon, US Open)

2017 Outlook

An injury-addled off-season left Halep unprepared for the season to come, and tough losses at the Australian Open and Middle East left many to question what was to come next from the former World No.2

Halep began to slowly silence the doubters by March, reaching back-to-back quarterfinals in Indian Wells and Miami, and truly soared once she hit her beloved clay, winning her second Premier Mandatory title at the Mutua Madrid Open. The Romanian star credited the success at one of her favorite tournaments – run by fellow Romanian Ion Tiriac – with a new approach alongisde coach Darren Cahill.

“I had many days training with Darren,” she explained to WTA Insider. “I wanted that. I asked him when he made the schedule in January that I wanted this week to prepare with him here in Madrid. So I knew what I want to do.

“It’s much better to come a few days earlier. You feel the courts, you feel the atmosphere of the tournament, and you feel like you are into it already when the tournament starts.”

Halep continued to feel the courts this summer, winning two more titles at home in Bucharest and Montréal, where she also paired Monica Niculescu to reach the doubles final.

“It was very different because I’m not used to playing doubles,” she said in her Rogers Cup Champions Corner. “I got a little bit tired in the end. But it also helped me to play some doubles matches because I practiced the return, the serve. That helped me a lot in singles; I had tough opponents there. It’s been a great week.”

The former French Open finalist played one of her most impressive matches in Flushing, pushing then-World No.1 Serena Williams to the brink at the US Open.

“It was tough,” she said of the loss. “It is tough. I’m a little bit sad, but I have just to take the positives, because I have a lot going ahead.”

For the youngest woman in the Top 4, there is certainly still more ahead, and plenty more to come in 2017.