Simona Halep returned to tennis at the 2024 Miami Open and played a really solid match, but we’re going to have to wait a bit until we see her again on the courts.
Halep’s return was very quick and quite surprising to many. The Romanian’s Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling came down just days before the Miami Open, and its effect was immediate.
She was allowed to compete immediately as her ban was reduced to only nine months, which had already expired, as she had been away from the sport for over a year.
The Miami Open jumped on that opportunity immediately and contacted Halep, offering her a wild card entry into the WTA 1000 event. She, of course, accepted because she was keen to return as quickly as possible and you don’t really turn down such a huge event.
She then traveled to Miami and practiced a few days before the event, and then she played a match. The draw was not very kind as it gave her Paula Badosa, who herself hasn’t played all that much but was certainly in better shape than Halep.
That didn’t matter at the start, as Halep cruised in the opening set. She had some chances in the second set as well, but Badosa was slowly able to establish control and win the second set.
The final set wasn’t very good for Halep as she started to feel some shoulder discomfort, which required a medical timeout. The problems seem real, as Halep will miss Romania’s Billie Jean King Cup tie against Ukraine.
The former world no. 1 has yet to offer a proper explanation of what went wrong, but since it was described as a medical issue, it’s safe to assume that some sort of injury does exist.
The hope is that she doesn’t miss a lot of time because of it, as Halep is clearly determined to jump onto the tennis court quickly.
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