‘Still Had the Game to Be There’ – Simona Halep Gets Candid About Serena Williams’ Ex-coach’s Valuable Inputs to Her Game

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep is all set to play in the French Open 2022. Although the former world number 1 has won the tournament back in 2018. But the Halep of 2018 differed completely from the one we see now. As the two-time Grand Slam winner made her return after a long injury, she has not looked at her best.

Also, the 30-year-old recently revealed in an interview that the injury was so bad that at one point of time she was considering retirement as an option. However, Halep found hunger to fight back all the odds and make a comeback. When she finally met her current coach, Patrick Mouratoglou. The Former coach of Serena Williams provided her with much-needed confidence and the right guidance to help her make a comeback. Halep recently opened up about Mouratoglou’s role in her comeback and how they together worked for making her comeback possible.

Simona Halep Praises Coach Patrick Mouratoglou

The former number 1 Simona Halep was all praise of her current coach, Patrick Mouratoglou. She admitted that there’s a huge role of the Frenchman in her return to court. Also, Halep said that she doesn’t easily believe in anyone but the way Mouratoglou has been training her has made her feel more professional.

The Romanian felt that she has got the full belief that if she trains hard every day, she still has the capability to return to the top.

“It’s not easy for me to trust someone, but when I come to believe, I’m capable of change. The way we train, the way he talks to me, the whole program makes me feel like I’m more professional than I was. If you work every day, I think you have a better chance of getting back to the top. I started to think I still had the game to be there.” She said.

Read more: ‘When I Break a String’ – Simona Halep Contents With Slight Mishap During Her Intense Training With Serena Williams’ Ex-coach

Although she did well to reach the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open, where she went down to the eventual champion, Ons Jabeur. However, Halep will look forward to giving better performance at Roland Garros.

Simona Halep’s Record on Clay

The former world number 1 has won most of her titles on the clay. The titles include winning twice at Madrid (2016 & 2017), the French Open in 2018, and the Italian Open in the year 2020. Having played 197 matches on clay, Halep has won 144 out of it and lost only 53.

This totals to a winning percentage of 73% which is her highest out of all three types of surfaces. Halep definitely knows a thing or two about playing on the red dirt.

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And given her vast experience, she will look to regain her past glory in this year’s Roland Garros.