Simona Halep, the former world No. 1 and Wimbledon champion from Romania, retired Tuesday, roughly two and a half years after a doping suspension upended the last chapter of her career.

Halep, who struggled with a knee injury after the highest court in sports cut her suspension from four years to nine months, made the announcement after Lucia Bronzetti beat her 6-1, 6-1 at the Transylvania Open in Cluj-Napoca in her home country.

“I don’t know if it’s with sadness or joy, I think both,” Halep said as she held a microphone in the middle of the court following Tuesday’s loss. “I’ve always been realistic with myself, my body. Even though my performance wasn’t very good it was still my soul. I’m very glad that you came and I wonder if I will come back again, but for now it’s the last time I’ve played. I don’t want to cry. It’s a beautiful thing that I became world No. 1. I won Grand Slams. It’s all I wanted. Life goes on. There is life after tennis. I hope we will see each other again.”

Halep was just 30 years old when she tested positive for the banned substance roxadustat at the 2022 U.S. Open. At the time, she was trying to dig herself out of a tennis rut and working with Patrick Mouratoglou, the former coach of Serena Williams.

Mouratoglou had helped Halep resuscitate her career. She made the semifinals of Wimbledon and won the National Bank Open in Canada ahead of that U.S. Open. But after losing in the first round, Halep learned that she had tested positive for roxadustat, an anemia drug that can help with the production of red blood cells and improve stamina.

Halep later argued that she had ingested the roxadustat with a contaminated batch of a supplement that Mouratoglou had recommended she begin using. But she was provisionally suspended in October 2022 and then given a four-year ban in September 2023 after anti-doping officials ruled that a blood test showed signs of intentional doping. She also neglected to mention using the supplement during initial questioning.

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Halep’s appeals, ultimately to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), took nearly a year and a half to work their way through the system. CAS cut the suspension to nine months in March 2024, ruling that Halep “bore no significant fault or negligence.”

Halep, who has always denied knowingly taking the banned substance roxadustat and presented evidence that the fluctuations in her haemoglobin levels were within her normal range, then received a wild card entry into the Miami Open.

However, coming back in her early 30s after such a significant layoff proved too tall a task for Halep, whose size and style of play required incredible defense and court coverage that can be challenging to play on two healthy knees. It took her to two Grand Slam titles, at the 2018 French Open and Wimbledon 2019; she won 24 singles titles overall and spent 64 weeks as world No. 1.

Injuries, though, prevented her from playing more than five matches before this week’s appearance in Cluj-Napoca. She was even unable to take advantage of a wild card entry she received into the Australian Open last month. She came to Cluj to finish her career as every tennis player wants to — on the court.

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(Top photo: Horvath Tamas / Getty Images)