LONDON –
Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep has had nose surgery to improve her breathing and won’t be playing again until next year.
In a post on Twitter on Thursday, the ninth-ranked Romanian wrote that she felt “completely exhausted” after her first-round loss to qualifier Daria Snigur at the US Open last month. She then decided to follow medical advice and have surgery to ease her breathing problems, which had bothered her “for many years” and were getting worse.
Halep posted an image showing her bandaged nose in her tweet.
“I felt like it was the right time to do it and also do something for me as a person,” she wrote. “That’s why I also took on the (a)aesthetic part.”
In the lengthy Twitter post, Halep said she was close to retiring from her tennis career in February because she didn’t think she could return to the top 10. She said she rediscovered her passion for the sport after deciding to work with a new coach, Patrick Mouratoglou.
“2022, you’ve been an interesting year full of everything!” wrote Halep, who won the French Open in 2018 and Wimbledon in 2019. “See you on the pitch, 2023! I feel like I still have a lot to do on a tennis court and I still have some goals.”