Simona Halep has always been admired for her grit, discipline, and phenomenal achievements—two Grand Slams, climbing to world No. 1, and doing it all with a humility that’s rare in sport. But this year, she made a decision that many athletes eventually face: stepping away from the professional tennis tour. lvania Open in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, after a loss to Lucia Bronzetti, Halep told the crowd that her body could no longer sustain the physical demands of top-level competition. She spoke with both sadness and joy, saying she was making her decision with her soul, with peace, because she’d always been realistic with her body and her limits.
But what has she been doing since then? How is she adjusting to a world where tennis is no longer her full-time job? At the Impact Bucharest 2025 event, Halep gave some heartfelt reflections about the transition. She said, “All I knew and what I was doing was just tennis.” That sentence captures the core of what many retired athletes feel: for so long, their identity, routines, dreams, successes, and even failures revolve around their sport.
Halep admitted that retiring wasn’t easy. Without tennis, those rituals, that structure, the daily practice, the competition—these weren’t just things she “did,” they were who she was. But now, she’s exploring other dimensions of life. She’s taking time to look ahead, to discover what she might enjoy beyond the court.
Reflecting on her career, she expressed pride and gratitude. She knows the pressure of being constantly in the spotlight, of being expected to be extraordinary, and yet she also recognises how meaningful it is to be a role model to young people. At the same time, she’s aware of what she may have missed—family moments, perhaps quieter routines, the parts of life that don’t always fit so well into a tennis calendar.
Halep doesn’t sound bitter or regretful. Rather, she seems at peace. She often says she has no regrets. She followed one path—very singular, very demanding—but it was her passion. She loved playing. She sacrificed a lot, but that was part of what made all the highs possible. Now, she’s giving herself permission to be more than an athlete, to explore other interests and enjoy different rhythms of life.
In short: Simona Halep’s post-tennis life is a period of rediscovery. Not because she failed to achieve her goals—because she did more than many ever will—but because she now has the space and time to uncover who she is without tennis as her day job. And for someone who has poured her heart into competition for nearly two decades, that journey is both challenging and inspiring.
