MADRID — Simona Halep has pulled out of next week’s Madrid Open in order to work on her fitness as the Romanian said she needs more time get physically ready to compete at the highest level after being out of action for over 18 months.
Halep, the former Wimbledon and French Open champion, had her four-year doping ban cut to nine months by the top court for global sport in March and made her return as a wildcard at the Miami Open, where she fell in the first round to Paula Badosa.
“Unfortunately my body needs a little more time to be ready and I have made the tough decision not to play in Madrid,” she wrote on X according to Reuters.
“Tough because I want to be back on tour asap, but experience tells me not to rush. Thank you to @MutuaMadridOpen who offered me the wildcard and to my fans.”
The former world number one was suspended in October 2022 after testing positive for roxadustat – a banned drug that stimulates the production of red blood cells – at the US Open that year.
The 32-year-old was also charged with another offence last year due to irregularities in her athlete biological passport, a method designed to monitor different blood parameters over time to reveal potential doping.
But Halep, who denied any wrongdoing, was allowed to return to action after the Court of Arbitration for Sport cut her ban to nine months after accepting the Romanian’s explanation that a contaminated supplement was to blame for her positive drugs test.
Halep was ranked inside the top 10 when she was suspended but has since seen her ranking plummet to 1,146.
World number one Novak Djokovic will not also compete at tournament after being left out of the main draw for the ATP Masters 1000 tournament.
Djokovic last played at the Monte Carlo Masters earlier this month, reaching the semi-finals, where he was beaten by Casper Ruud. He has not won a title this season and has played in just four tournaments.
The 24-times Grand Slam champion has won the Madrid Open on three occasions, but has played the tournament just once since winning his last title at the Caja Magica in 2019.
Rafa Nadal will play in the Laver Cup later this year, organisers said, in what could be the Spaniard’s last tournament before his retirement from the sport.
The 37-year-old Nadal, who returned to action after a months-long layoff at last week’s Barcelona Open, has struggled with injuries for the last two years and has said he expects to retire after the 2024 season.
This will be the 22-times Grand Slam champion’s fourth appearance at the three-day team tournament, which pits six top men’s players from Europe against six of their counterparts from the rest of the world.
Nadal last played at the Laver Cup in 2022, when he teamed up with his rival Roger Federer, which was the Swiss great’s last match.
Elsewhere, Dutchwoman Suzan Lamens won the first WTA 125 level title of her career at the Oeiras Ladies Open with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 comeback win over Denmark’s Clara Tasuon. The 24-year-old had three match points in the second set, and later trailed 4-1 in the final set.
The 2-hour, 53-minute triumph was full of twists and turns. Lamens looked on course to ease to victory when she built a 6-4, 5-0 lead — only to see Tauson win a staggering seven consecutive games to force a decider.
All of Lamens’ match points came in a five-deuce ninth game in which she initially trailed 0-40, and was also broken in a similar game at 5-5.
Tauson’s momentum continued well into the decider, as her run of games won extended to 11 of the last 12 to earn a double-break advantage.
A pair of double faults off the Dane’s racquet in a subsequent service game helped spark Lamens’ belief that she could turn the match around, she said according to wtatennis.com.
“I’m still trying to believe what happened,” Lamens said afterwards. “It was a crazy match … It was a big rollercoaster. I’m very happy, but also a bit tired.”
“At the beginning of the third set, I was still thinking about that a lot,” she said of the lead she lost. “At 1-4, I was just telling myself to keep fighting. She was 5-0 down, so from 4-1, I could maybe also come back.”
The victory for the 24-year-old Lamens, who hails from Rotterdam, is the latest in an in-form spring.
