"I am not a machine, I am a human". The former world number one announced a career break

Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep has returned to the court this season. Previously, she was handed a four-year suspension for using banned substances, but after her case was reviewed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the suspension was reduced to nine months.

Upon her return to tennis, she played her first match at the Miami Open, where she lost in three sets to Paula Badosa. Subsequently, she was unable to participate in the tournaments in Oeiras and Madrid, despite receiving wild cards, due to health issues. Returning to the court at the WTA 125 tournament in Paris, she did not complete her first match against McCartney Kessler, in which she was leading 7-5, 2-3, due to a knee problem.

Now, the Romanian tennis player has announced that she has decided to pause her competitions to heal her injuries. On her Instagram page, she addressed her fans, stating that she wants to return to tennis as soon as possible, but her priority is to treat her knee injury.

"I wanted to provide a little health update since I have been away from the court lately. It is not the best news, but I wanted to share all the same.

For a few months now, I have been struggling with a knee injury. It’s an injury I have never had before and it has been a tough one to manage, with the pain persisting.

It has been a very difficult period (almost two years) mentally and emotionally for me and struggling physically on top of that definitely doesn’t help. I have decided to take the time needed to recover properly, rather than training and playing through pain. My instinct has always been to try to come back as soon as possible, but I am not a machine, I am a human being and I need time to recover from everything I have gone through.

I’ll keep you posted and, as always, want to thank you for your permanent support. I hope to be back on court very soon".

Simona Halep is a two-time Grand Slam winner. She won the French Open in 2018 and Wimbledon in 2019. In 2018, she reached the Australian Open final, and in 2015, she made it to the US Open semifinal. In 2017, she ascended to the top of the WTA rankings, a position she relinquished at the beginning of the following year.