ADVERTISEMENT
Simona Halep reveals the moment the doctors determined the clear extent of her knee injury was also the moment when she knew that was it.
Shortly after the CAS cleared her to return to tennis last March, the former world No. 1 started dealing with a knee issue.
Those issues kept hampering her for the remainder of the year and the Romanian appeared in just four tournaments and posted a 1-5 record.
In the offseason, Halep signed up for an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi and she was also due to play in Auckland and the Australian Open.
But during the exhibition event, she felt pain and discomfort, which led to her pulling out of Auckland and the Australian Open.
Last week, Halep returned to action in Cluj-Napoca, where she lost to Lucia Bronzetti in the first round and retired moments later on the court.
ADVERTISEMENT
Now, the 33-year-old shares that the doctors told her surgery was pretty much the only option - it would take a year to a year and a half to recover - and that there were no guarantees how it would all look afterward.
Halep: When I learned that it was a serious injury and that I needed a cartilage implant
"When I understood that the knee injury was serious and that I had to have a cartilage implant," the former two-time Grand Slam winner told Treizecizero.
"And they told me that the recovery takes a year, a year and a half, and they don't guarantee that I'll be able to perform like before.
"My career goal was to avoid surgery. To play as much as possible, but not to have surgery, because once you have surgery, nothing is the same.
ADVERTISEMENT
"And look, I managed to avoid it, and there was no need to pull myself, to break something, to... what, after all?
"Maybe in a year I'll miss it and I'll come back, because you see how many athletes are coming back now.
"But it's good for me to say it too, to free myself and look at life differently."
In the same interview, Halep also revealed that she is hoping to become a mother after tennis retirement.
