Tennis world en n 49 Tennis World issue 49 | Page 25

overcome by nerves in a one-sided loss to
Garbine Muguruza. particularly glamorous – the semi-finals in
Beijing – but the moment most certainly
The most painful loss came at the French was. Halep’s four-month journey of
introspection and doubt had come to a
Open, which was not only her first
opportunity to become world number one, merciful and triumphant end.
Halep is not the strongest player in the
but also an opportunity to win her first
Slam. She went into the match as an world, nor is she the most powerful or the
most talented. She has not even had the
overwhelming favorite, as her opponent, best year of all the players on the Tour.
Ostapenko, had never even won any kind
of Tour-level event before. Halep looked After all, she never won a Slam. But in a
season of such ups and downs, where
in full control at 6-4, 3-0, but was
ultimately undone by her nerves and her
opponent’s refusal to give up. nothing seemed certain and everything
was in flux, there was always one
constant: Simona Halep’s excellent play.
She did not always win every tournament,
but she almost always did well wherever
she went. And that steadfast consistency
ultimately won her the day, and the world
number one.
But, as we already mentioned, Halep
never backs down, and when a fourth shot
at the number one ranking came up
against her old nemesis Ostapenko, she
was finally ready. The setting was not