Shortly after her stunning victory over Serena Williams in the Wimbledon final on Saturday, Simona Halep made her way to the players’ lawn, the area at the All England Club where families, team members and friends often congregate after a match. Sometimes the champion chooses to enjoy the moment in private but Halep marched straight into the middle of the lawn and spent the next hour receiving congratulations from anyone and everyone. It is hard to think of a more popular champion or one who has worked harder to earn it.
Beneath her beaming smile, Halep is one of the steeliest competitors on the Tour and it is her resilience, as much as her speed and agility, that got her over the line. This was her second grand slam title, following on from her victory at last year’s French Open, when she broke her duck after three agonising defeats in finals, twice in Paris in 2014 and 2017 and once in Australia, in 2018. Those losses would have destroyed a lesser person but Halep had already turned a corner by her defeat in Melbourne, a brief split from her then-coach Darren Cahill making her realise that if she wanted success, she needed to shake her negativity and believe in herself more.
She did it and it paid off first when, with Cahill back on board, she won the title at Roland Garros last year. On Saturday, with a new coach in Daniel Dobre, she played almost flawless tennis to deny Williams what would have been a record-equalling 24th grand slam title. Dobre’s impact should not be underestimated but, though Cahill took himself away from the job as Halep’s coach at the end of last year to spend more time with his family, the Australian has been here throughout the championships in his TV role with ESPN and has been a major factor behind the scenes.
“I felt a bit lost when he told me we were going to split but I was also confident,” an elated but exhausted Halep said, sitting in a small room inside the All England Club a few hours after her win. “I knew if I put into practice what he had told me during the three or four years when we were together, I had a better chance to be good on court. We split but we are still talking and he is my friend who is by my side all the time. He came to watch the matches, so he still gives me advice – but friendly advice.” Could Cahill return at some stage? “I hope,” she said, clasping her hands together as if praying. “Let’s hope this result will bring him back.”
Halep went into the final as the underdog against Williams, the American seemingly destined to equal Margaret Court’s record of 24 grand slams. But the fact that the 37-year-old had lost her two most recent grand slam finals, here last year to Angelique Kerber of Germany and at the US Open last September to Naomi Osaka, had not gone unnoticed.
“I did not watch them, because I don’t like to watch finals, it makes me sad that I am not in them,” she said. “But I thought if those players had the chance to win, maybe I would have my chance to win.”
And so she did, with the kind of performance that was too strong for Williams and one she described as “the best match of my life”. Just three unforced errors illustrates how consistent she was but it was her speed, her incredible athleticism that wore down Williams even as she threatened a comeback in the second set.
One of those congratulating Halep on the lawn here was the man she calls Mr Tiriac, Ion Tiriac, the Romanian who won a French Open doubles title as a player but who is better known as the man who managed Boris Becker and Goran Ivanisevic to grand slam glory. Tiriac was blown away by Halep’s performance. “It’s beyond any comprehension,” he told the Guardian. “I had it before, with Goran Ivanisevic, wildcard, broken shoulder, he didn’t win it twice when he was supposed to win it and he won it after. I’m thrilled for her, she deserves it.”
The pressure, which Halep had felt so intensely in the early stages of her career, was lifted from her shoulders after her win in Paris last year. Tiriac said he thought Halep could already have won a handful of grand slams and the 27-year-old said winning Wimbledon would give her an added spring in her step. “It can be a good boost for me mentally,” she said.
Halep will rise to No 4 in the rankings when they are updated on Monday and a return to the world No 1 spot is well within her reach over the coming months. But her eyes are already set on something further afield.
“I want to win any medal in the Olympics to fulfil everything I have done in tennis,” she said, her eyes lighting up at the thought of it. “It is a chance to play for my country and I have always loved to do that. The disappointment from [losing in Fed Cup] this year really hurt me so to play well to get a medal, it would be a dream.”
It was her mother’s dream that she should play in a Wimbledon final. On Saturday, Halep went one better. There could be more to come.
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