Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep has pulled out of qualifying for the Australian Open and will postpone the start of her 2025 season.
The 33-year-old has received wild cards to qualify for the Australian Open and the Auckland Classic, which starts on Monday live on Sky Sports Tennis with British Emma Raducana among the contending names.
Halep will be out for at least a month due to knee and shoulder pain after playing in an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi earlier this month.
He plans to start his season at the Transylvania Open in early February.
“After playing in Abu Dhabi, unfortunately, I felt pain in my knee and shoulder again,” she announced on social media.
“After a long discussion with my team, we agreed that it is reasonable to delay the start of my season.
“It's not what I wanted, but I would like to thank the organizers of the tournament in Auckland and Australia for the wild cards and I'm sorry that I won't be able to take them this time.”
Simona Halep was banned for four years, but it was later reduced to nine months in March after an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport
Halep, who was handed a four-year doping ban that was reduced to nine months, last competed on the WTA Tour in October in Hong Kong.
She was runner-up at the 2018 Australian Open and won major titles at the French Open later that year and at Wimbledon in 2019.
Halep is currently 877th in the world, and due to the doping case, she has not played in a Grand Slam since 2022.
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