Sunday, February 23, 2025

And what a swing it was!

The Middle East swing always delivers, in terms of high quality tennis, but this year, it also delivered what some may consider surprises, while others (myself included) consider the outcomes to be not so surprising.

Olympic gold medal winner Belinda Bencic, who returned to the tour four months ago, after giving birth to a daughter, lifted her second Abu Dhabi trophy.  The Swiss star defeated both Marketa Vondrousova and top seed Elena Rybakina before defeating Ashlyn Krueger in the final. Bencic, who was in the top 10 in 2022, didn’t play in Doha, and lost to 8th seed Emma Navarro in the second round in Dubai. Bencic is an unpredictable player, but is a lot of fun to watch, and her victory in Abu Dhabi, one hopes, marks the beginning of a good 2025 season.

For long-time tennis fans, the outcome in Doha was likely both exciting and disappointing. Alona Ostapenko was on a peak tear during this event, taking out 4th seed Jasmine Paolini, Ons Jabeur and 2nd seed Iga Swiatek, all in straight sets. But then we saw something we’ve seen too many times—the player who has dramatically defeated top opponents in the draw loses in the final. Ostapenko lost to Amanda Anisimoa, who had a tough draw of her own.

Tennis fans know Anisimova’s history—there has always been so much talent, and there have always been so many interruptions to her momentum. But there was no interruption this time, and Anisimova won her third—and biggest—title in Doha.

Dubai was another matter altogether. Clara Tauson is 22 years old—not a teen—yet, as the draw progressed, I couldn’t help but think of the 2021 U.S. Open, which had us thinking “Is it going to be the two teenagers in the end?”—and it (metaphorically) was. Tauson upset Elina Svitolina in a thrilling, two-hour and 40-minute three-set match. And for her next act, she upset world number 1 Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets. She then knocked out up-and-coming Czech Linda Noskova, and—in the semifinals—she defeated 14th seed Karolina Muchova. What a run!

On the other side of the draw, 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva was doing her own damage, taking out 2nd seed Iga Swiatek and 6th seed Elena Rybakina. This was the young Russian’s second time to play Swiatek; she took a set off of her last year in Cincinnati, and it wasn’t a total shock to see her emerge the victor in Dubai. At 17 years old, Andreeva has both a generous amount of talent and the court poise of someone much older. She defeated Tauson in straight sets in the final, and—in doing so—became the youngest woman to win a WTA 1000 event. The Russian teen will enter the top 10 tomorrow.

The 2025 Middle East swing featured some wonderful tennis, and also served as a clear sign that the upstarts are definitely coming for the top players.

Oh—and there was this:

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Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Simona Halep, the pride of Romania, retires from professional tennis

I enjoyed watching Simona Halep long before she became a household tennis name. She had talent and court intelligence, and I wondered what direction her career would take. Several years later, beginning in 2013, when she won six titles, it took a very fine direction, resulting in her winning both the French Open and Wimbledon.

Halep had to fight for the French Open title; on two occasions, she was the runner-up, once to Maria Sharapova (2014) and once to Alona Ostapenko (2017). Finally, in 2018, she won the tournament, defeating Sloane Stephens in the final. That same year, Halep was the runner-up at the Australian Open, losing the final to Caroline Wozniacki. The following year, the Romanian star won in London by defeating seven-time champion Wimbledon Serena Williams in the final.

Halep’s ascension in professional tennis also brought about something that I wasn’t accustomed to seeing—her fans traveled all over the world to support her. And support her they did, yelling “Si-mo-na!” whenver she appeared on the court. Halep’s tennis idol was Justine Henin, and this fact came as no surprise to anyone who saw her play. Like the four-time French Open champion, Halep—despite being “small” in pro tennis terms—used relentless aggression to defeat her opponents, and was especially fond of doing so on clay. She was a feared returner of the ball.

Halep experienced her share of injuries, especially foot and back injuries, though she also had to deal with injuries to her shoulder, neck and calf. She also had to contend with a breathing problem, and eventually had surgery to correct it. Despite these physical challenges, Halep always bounced back, and always worked her way back to the top.

There were also psychological challenges. Halep had a tendency to let stress overcome her, and to become visibly upset with herself on the court. Once, I asked her if she had any kind of strategy on the court to stop her thoughts and move on in a more positive way. “Oh,” she said, waving her hand and smiling, “I’m like this all the time.” But she conquered those demons, like (until now) she conquered her injury woes.

I’ll leave it to others to deconstruct what happened to Simona when, in the fall of 2022, she tested positive for roxadusat. Halep’s saga, like the saga of so many players, was filled with inconsistencies and questionable behaviors from the organizations that are in charge of dealing with doping. We’ve seen many players treated unfairly by these organizations, but Halep’s case may be the most egregious of them all. Her four-year ban was eventually changed to nine months, which she had already “served.”

Unfortunately, her return to the tour was marred by a serious knee injury, from which she was unable to fully recover. Today, after losing in the first round at her home tournament in Transylvania, the 33-year-old Halep announced her retirement from professional tennis. “To be competitive again requires much more, and at this moment, it’s no longer possible,” she said, in making the announcement. “I don’t want to cry—this is something beautiful. I reached world number 1, I won grand slams; it’s everything I ever wanted.” 

Simona Halep held the position of number 1 in the world for 64 weeks, and was twice the year-end number 1. She won 24 singles titles, was a member of the Romanian Fed Cup (now Billie Jean King Cup) team eight times, and a member of the 2012 Romanian Olympic team.

Sports—which are known for providing us with metaphors for all of our major hopes, as well as the dashing of those hopes—frequently remind us that life isn’t fair. The likable and hard-working Halep was a star, she put Romanian tennis on the map, and she thrilled fans all over the world. Her career shouldn’t have ended this way, but it did, and—as Simona herself said—it was beautiful.

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