Simona Halep (20 WTA) will play in one more competition in 2021, a demonstration tournament in South Africa, scheduled for December. The last official competition she participated in this year was the WTA Linz , from which she withdrew before the semifinal with Jaqueline Cristian .
Simona Halep will participate in a demonstration tour in South Africa with tennis legends
The competition will take place in Johannesburg on December 18-19, and two other former tennis world leaders – Venus Williams and Martina Hingis, both 41 years old, who together won 12 Grand Slam titles – will participate in it throughout the career.
The tournament will be called Africa Cares, and its aim is to promote tennis in South Africa and fight violence against women. The other participants in the tournament will be announced in the next two weeks, reports News24 .
Khololwam Montsi (18 years old, 780 ATP), one of the hopes of South African men’s tennis, will also participate in the mixed doubles competition.
Halep: “I am confident that I will play again”
Although she suffered a knee injury in Linz, Simona Halep ends the 2021 season on an optimistic note. Halep admits that the moment of the injury in Rome represented a great test and an unprecedented situation in her career.
“Well… 2021, you were hmm, a difficult year to describe. To be honest, it’s been an incredibly challenging year. Even before the beginning, we suffered immense pain in our hearts, because we lost one of our very close relatives, my father’s sister, my aunt. She was a strong, special person and will always be in our hearts. It was the most difficult moment for me and it took me some time to accept the loss, but in the end I understood that this is life and we have to overcome the pain and stay strong.
I was emotionally exhausted for a long time, and then I started to suffer small injuries until the big one came, the calf injury, from Rome. I didn’t know how to handle the situation, because I’ve never faced something like this before. My desire to play was huge, but I couldn’t play for several months and I had to miss my beloved Roland Garros and I couldn’t defend my trophy at Wimbledon. I started having self-confidence issues and wondering if I could go back to where I was, if I could trust that my body would hold up.
Fast forward to this moment and the thing I am most proud of, after all these problems, is that today I am confident that I will play again and, with a lot of work, I will create other very good moments on the pitch.
This year didn’t start well, but it ended on a positive note and I’m looking forward to what’s to come.
I thank Darren for being by my side during these difficult times. I thank Daniel for always being there. I thank my new coach, Adrian, for coming back and bringing me the light of confidence and a smile on the field. I thank my physical therapists for taking care of me every time. I thank my family for supporting me regardless of the situation. I thank my close friends for always being by my side. I thank my husband for being in my life. 2022, I can’t wait to meet you, but now a vacation, please!!!” , wrote Simona Halep.
