Halep taking her game to a higher plane after shutdown

Simona Halep said she had found inner calm during tennis’s coronavirus shutdown and that she had returned to the courts with more maturity and perspective on the game.

Halep won the Dubai title before the WTA Tour’s suspension in March and lifted the Prague crown on its resumption, before claiming another crown in Rome on Monday to emerge as the front runner for the French Open Grand Slam, which begins on Sunday.

“The pandemic got me in a place that I really dreamed to be,” the world No 2 told the WTA Insider Podcast.

“I’m more mature, more relaxed because I could see that the most difficult things are in life in general, not in sport. So being able to do this as good as I do in the last seven years, it’s a big thing.”

Halep, 28, said her first Rome title, which she won when Karolina Pliskova retired due to injury, was the culmination of a dream she had since 2013, though she was a much different person now.

“Back then I was fighting with everyone, with myself, the opponent, the ball, the racquet, the weather, the crowd, the team… so I have many on the list,” the Romanian added.