29-year-old Simona Halep won the trophies in Dubai and Prague this year and defeated Elena Rybakina and Elise Mertens in the final. At the Australian Open she reached the semi-finals, while she was defeated in Paris in the fourth round by the eventual Polish champion Iga Swiatek.
Recently the Instagram account of ‘Behind the Racquet’ published the story of their arrival to success, which took place in 2014 on the occasion of his first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros.
Simona Halep: “Now I’m under different pressure”
The Romanian said: “In 2014 tennis changed my life.
I played my first big final at Roland Garros. No Romanian tennis player has played a Grand Slam final since 1978. Emotions exploded and everyone had high expectations for my future. They began to believe that he could win a Grand Slam title.
All of a sudden I became popular. The people on the street recognized me and asked for photos and autographs. This was a big change, it was difficult to deal with, but I learned a lot during that time.
I tried to enjoy the attention, but it was stressful because it took a lot of energy. I didn’t want to lose focus on my career. I was trying to find a balance. I’ve been generous and open to the fans, but at the same time I’ve been focusing on hard work to get results on the pitch.
“Simona lost the 2014 Paris final against Maria Sharapova, who was beaten in three sets. She returned to fight for a major title at Roland Garros 2017 and the 2018 Australian Open, but was defeated again by Jelena Ostapenko and Caroline Wozniacki.
Her first Grand Slam success came with the 2018 edition of Roland Garros, when she defeated American Sloane Stephens in the final. “First of all, I felt the need to show the world that I can keep winning.
That motivation made me improve every day and it was always inside of me. In the past few years I’ve improved my handling of the positive and negative aspects of pressure. She faced him after a great victory.
I’m under pressure and I’m trying not to base my tennis life on success. The most important thing is to work hard. If you give 100 percent, you will not regret it. I was never afraid of failure. If you don’t succeed, it means you weren’t good enough and you have to work harder for it.
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