Breaking the Grand Slam curse
Halep lost her first three finals at Grand Slams. She couldn't find the right recipe against Maria Sharapova at the 2014 French Open, Jelena Ostapenko at the same venue in 2017 or Caroline Wozniacki at the 2018 Australian Open and she fell in three sets each time.
"I fought, but unfortunately it didn't work out this time either. I believe that there will be chances like this again and I will be able to win.
"Thanks to everyone for the support, it means a lot to me and I appreciate it. I will try not to disappoint you next time," she said during the ceremony at the 2018 Australian Open.
And she didn't disappoint. Just a few months later, she beat Sloane Stephens to win the French Open. Against the American, she overcame a set and break deficit to eventually claim the coveted title.
She then only reached the final of a Grand Slam once more - at Wimbledon 2019, where she lost just a single set. In the semi-finals, she demolished Elina Svitolina and conceded just four games to the favourite Serena Williams in the decider.
It was the last chance for the seven-time champion Williams to dominate the famous event. Since that, she only appeared at Wimbledon in 2021 and 2022 and was knocked out in the first round both times.
"I've always wanted to play the Wimbledon final and now it's come true. If you win Wimbledon, you become a lifetime member of the club. That was one of the motivations to win here.
"It's a huge honour for me to play on this court in front of so many famous people and the royal family," Halep rejoiced after her Wimbledon triumph.
Becoming world number one
The 9th of October, 2017. That's a date Halep will probably never erase from her mind. On that day, she became world number one for the first time in her career.
Yet, in the 2017 season, she only won one title - on clay in Madrid. However, she added finals in Rome, at the French Open, in Cincinnati and Beijing. It was after her performance in the Chinese capital that she became the queen of the WTA rankings.
She spent a total of 64 weeks at the top of the rankings, one year and 110 days to be precise. Twice she ended the season as the world number one, namely in 2017 and 2018.
First and last triumph
Interestingly, Halep lost her first three finals at WTA tournaments. After failures in Morocco in 2010 and 2011 and also in Brussels in 2012, she enjoyed her first triumph on Tour on clay in Nuremberg in 2013, where, in the final, she did not give a chance to Andrea Petkovic.
In 2013, she won all six of her finals and eventually collected 24 trophies during her career, including nine at the prestigious WTA 1000 events. Not to mention her two Grand Slam crowns.
Her last championship trophy came in Toronto in 2022, when she outlasted Beatriz Haddad Maia in three sets in the final in the Canadian capital.
Doping case
Unfortunately, Halep's name will forever be linked to doping. However, she will most likely be inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame eventually, like her rival Maria Sharapova, who also failed a doping test.
Halep's case started shortly after her last triumph in Toronto. At the 2022 US Open, she tested positive for the banned substance roxadustat, a stimulant of haemoglobin and red blood cell production, i.e. with similar effects to EPO. In May of the following year, she was accused of further breaches due to irregularities in her biological passport.
She appealed against the four-year doping sentence she received in September 2023 to the highest sports tribunal in Lausanne. Halep denied from the start that she had taken the banned substance intentionally. She claimed that a small amount of the anaemia drug entered her body from an approved dietary supplement that was contaminated.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in her favour last March. After a three-day hearing in February, the jury decided that the positive test was caused by the contaminated supplement and that anomalies in the biological passport could be linked to it. Halep's sentence was reduced to nine months, which meant she could return to the courts immediately.
Failed comeback and retirement
However, Halep's attempt to return to the elite was an absolute failure. Due to various health problems, she played only six matches after her doping ban and recorded only one win.
She started her comeback trail last March in Miami and less than a year later she finally gave up. She waved goodbye to a highly successful career on Tuesday at a home indoor event in Cluj, where she took a first-round beating in a match with Lucia Bronzetti. After the Italian's post-match interview, she took the microphone herself and the shocking news came out.
"I don't know if it's with sadness or joy, but I make this decision with peace of mind," she said during her speech.
"I wanted to say goodbye on the tennis court here in Cluj. Even though my performance was not very good, I played the match with my heart and I am very happy that you came," she continued.
"I played here for the last time and I don't want to cry because this farewell is actually beautiful. I was the world number one and won grand slams. I fulfilled my goals and that's why this decision was easy.
"My life will go on after tennis. I will play tennis whenever I can, but at the professional level, it takes a lot more and at the moment my body doesn't allow me to do that," she ended, hinting that we might see her at least at exhibitions.