Tuesday, February 04, 2025

Backspin Flashback: Halep Wins Roland Garros (2018)

In the aftermath of her retirement from tennis, a special Backspin reminiscence of the greatest moments of the career of Simona Halep.

First... Roland Garros.



"I was dreaming for this moment since I started to play tennis. I'm really happy that it's happened in Roland Garros in Paris. My special city." - Simona Halep


Long the sport's embodiment of resilience during her WTA lifetime, no one's journey played out in Paris like a wonderful storybook fairy tale quite like Simona's.



A junior RG champ in 2008, Halep battled through years of crushing disapointments, marathon matches, physical exhaustion and mental fatigue that had left her either heartbroken or physically spent (and usually both) before overcoming a bevy of personal foibles (largely, a sometimes-crushing strain of perfectionism that often sliced through her confidence just when it *should* have been soaring) and rise above it all.

This space eventually (lovingly, as with all of Backspin's Simo associations, but also frustratingly) dubbed her continued series of near-misses as trips to "The Cliffs of Simona," for it was across their virtual edge that Halep would often dance on the big stage, only to ultimately "fall" before completing her journey.

Until -- finally, hallelujah -- she didn't.

In 2018, Halep was able to enjoy the fruits of her effort, claiming her maiden slam crown at Roland Garros at a point in her career when she could truly appreciate it and the hard work and painful trial-and-error that made it possible, cementing her legendary status in Romanian sport by becoming the first from her nation to win a major title since Virginia Ruzici (her business manager) in 1978. The win came in her third RG final in five years (and fourth in a major) and at the time was likely the most heartwarming and well-received triumph on the grand slam stage since Jana Novotna's belated trip to the winner's circle of a major twenty years earlier.

The Romanian's decade-long quest, and its brilliant ending, was so affecting that it became easy to forget that she began her RG career by going 1-4 in the tournament before reaching the 2014 final and then sometimes dominating the RG storyline for much of the decade that followed. In the 2010s, her tennis fate was one that was inextricably linked to the season's second slam event, nearly as much so as her idol Justine Henin had been with Paris during the 2000s.

Halep's 32 wins in Paris were more than she had at any major, and she even played a part in ushering in what quickly became the *next* era at RG, defeating a young Polish player named Iga Swiatek (6-1/6-0) in the 4th Round in 2019, then a year later in a true changing-of-the-guard moment losing to her (6-1/6-2) at the same stage before her opponent went on to claim her first of many more titles in Paris.

Simona's shining Parisian moment (as it was seen then)...


[from " The Triumph of the Resilient Romanian" - June 9, 2018]


Finally, it was Simona's time.




Over the sport's history, tennis has routinely produced players whose career journeys have resembled the path of the legendary daredevils who would get themselves shot out of a cannon. They fly far, fast and so suddenly that not only is everyone else stunned by their precocious accomplishments but, sometimes, so are they. A few of those players even come to *expect* such success, having never known anything else. Imagine that. We know it's true. We've seen it happen quite often, in fact. Some handle the celebration of *them* with aplomb, while others don't. But having blown through a door without ever really having been faced with being "locked out" of anything, they're presented with the early present of quite possibly being able to avoid the sort of dark passages where personal doubt can so easily lurk, and consume their already-attained dreams.

Simona Halep was most definitely not one of those players.

Some players, on the other hand, are made to wait. To work. To slog. To climb. To crash. To get back up again. To get knocked down once more. Some of those sort of players, in the end, never fulfill their greatest dreams and/or expected "destiny." But those that do are bestowed not only with the honor of lifting a grand slam trophy, but they're also rewarded with the even more significant, well-earned knowledge about just how hard it is to do it. Or to even get the chance. Once, twice, thrice or, for some, four times or more. But no matter how many chances that sort of player may get, *nothing* is assured. Nothing is going to simply be *given.* They know it. They've lived it. And so they go back to work.

Being made to live with such a harsh reality, though it may not be a fatal condition, over time becomes a load to bear that can become heavier and heavier. Some collapse under the weight of it all. After having been stopped just short of their career goal on multiple occasions, a cruel, frustrating and often heartless pattern which sometimes plays out for years at their expense, some may lose the will and stomach necessary to continue the fight. They may secretly begin to fear the opportunity they once strove for, not wanting to suffer the same fate yet again. Eventually, they could even cease being angry or frustrated when they come up short. It spares them the (even greater) pain that may have awaited them around the next corner.

Simona Halep was most definitely not one of those players, either.

Still others choose to muster the resiliency to pick themselves up again, put on a brave face in order to cope with the familiar pain, and then begin the process all over again, hoping for a different result the *next* time, or maybe the *next*, and if not then, then quite possibly the *next* time after that, whenever (or if) it might come. Thus, if the moment of action should some day arrive, the simple act of finally raising one's arms in triumph is not only one of elation, but also relief. Near incredulity, even. But also, finally, and most importantly, satisfaction.

Simona Halep became one of *those* players today in Paris.

Playing in her fourth career slam final, and third at Roland Garros since 2014, #1-ranked Halep came into her match against #10-seeded Sloane Stephens with not only her own checkered past -- three three-set losses in finals, a blown set-and-a-break lead a year ago in Paris against Alona Ostapenko, and a warrior-like effort this past January that nonetheless came up one victory short of completion in Melbourne -- but also the hopes and dreams of an entire nation on her mind.

Perhaps no player has a more extensive (and boisterous, to say the least) traveling band of countrymen & women in her corner than Halep, likely the greatest player that Romania has ever produced, but her desire to achieve her own dream *and* make her nation proud was still missing the legacy-defining major title run that would end the country's 40-year slam drought. The last Romanian to be crowned a slam champ was Virginia Ruzici, Halep's mentor and manager, who won in Paris in 1978. Halep's junior title run in Paris a decade ago had made Roland Garros her most favored event, and her idolization of four-time RG winner Justine Henin crossed paths during the week), as well as her own triumphs and failures on the terre battue in recent years, all have served to inextricably tie the Romanian to this particular slam.



To win here would be everything. To lose here again would be, again, another devastating obstacle to overcome.

** ** **


Up love/30 on Stephens' serve a game later, she got no closer as Sloane finally held serve for the first time in the 3rd set. But rather than beat herself up over seeing the closure of a *small* opening to end things there, she went back to work. Halep fired an ace (her first in the match) to take a 30/15 lead, then completed a smash at the net to reach match point.

In the end, there was no drama. In fact, the finish was quick. Stephens netted a forehand return shot and, just like that, Halep's career-long series of grand slam nightmares and neverending near-misses was over. Her 3-6/6-4/6-1 victory lifted the burden of the hopes of millions of her fellow Romanians from her shoulders, and cleared away the remaining cobwebs, scar tissue and scratchy feelings at the base of her own soul. She'd done it. Finally, she was the Roland Garros champion. The relief on her face was soon replaced by a brief version of disbelief, then satisfaction over her hard-earned accomplishment.



** ** **


Calling Paris her "special city," Halep would soon raise the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen overhead (after Stephens directed her during a little sideline coaching stint during the ceremony), officially lifting whatever cloud hovered over her career, securing a place in the hearts of all who saw her quest play out over the past few years, and settling into the warm cradle of tennis history.




As the Romanian anthem played on Chatrier court, Halep rested her cheek on the trophy's lid, as it was evident that the memories of her entire tennis journey flashed through her mind. Through still more chants of "Si-mo-na!" during the ceremony, her 32 slam appearances, four finals, heartbreak, anger, injury, blood, sweat, tears and disappointment were now joined by a recollection of "triumph." It makes all the difference. All the "bad" moments were now mere stepping stones to *this* one.




In winning the Romanian became the first player to beat three slam champions in the QF (two-time major winner Kerber, who'd soon go on to win Wimbledon for #3), SF (reigning Wimbledon champ Muguruza) and final (reigning U.S. champ Stephens) to win a major title since Justine Henin did it at the 2007 U.S. Open. Her win made her the sixth woman to win both the junior and women's singles titles at Roland Garros.

In her interview with NBC's Mary Carillo's after the match, Halep admitted that when she was a little girl she "didn't have the courage to dream" of lifting the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen. But courage isn't something that the Romanian lacks these days.

Nearly seven months after the death of Jana Novotna, on the very day that the Czech was honored in a ceremony at Roland Garros, Halep can now be listed alongside the late Hall of Famer, who in so many ways is her "historical doppelganger," as a player once hounded by near-miss efforts in slams until finally overcoming and re-writing her career legacy with a single victory.

As much as it's overdue, more than anything else, it just feels right.





All for now. Next: Simona's Wimbledon dream comes true.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 6:54 PM 

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