Simona Halep on tennis returning soon: ‘We can only dream of playing a Grand Slam at this point’

WTA Tour
Simona Halep press conference

Simona Halep insists it will be a while before tennis gets going again with the two-time Grand Slam winner admitting “it’s difficult to plan ahead”.

Tennis has been on an enforced break since early March due to the coronavirus pandemic and officials have pencilled in July 13 as a possible return date with the US Open and rescheduled French Open taking place in August and September.

However, some believe that the sport won’t resume before a vaccine is found, which is likely to only be in 2021.

World No 2 Halep isn’t too optimistic about playing tennis in the next few months, let alone majors.

“I believe that if we are playing tennis again in September we have already won, because it means the threat of the virus will be over,” she told CNN in an interview.

“We can only dream of playing a Grand Slam at this point, but I support the tournament and of course I will look forward to playing if we can.”

She added: “It’s definitely strange not to know when we will be able to play tournaments again. Which surface will we play on? In which country? There are no answers right now, so it’s difficult to plan ahead.”

One good thing did come out of the layoff as Halep picked up a foot injury in February and missed a few tournaments as a result, but she has now had time to recover fully.

“I am fortunate in a sense, because the situation with Covid-19 started just as I was struggling with a foot injury,” she said.

“So this extra time off has given me the opportunity to heal my foot properly and take time to work on my recovery, rather than worry about missing too many tournaments.

“I am in contact with my fitness trainer all the time and obviously my coaches Darren [Cahill] and Arti [Apostu-Efremov], too. I have not hit any balls yet but hopefully that will come soon when the situation becomes clearer and the restrictions begin to lift.”

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