Simona Halep will miss the match that the Romanian team will play against Ukraine in April, in the Billie Jean King Cup competition.
“For medical reasons, Simona Halep will not be able to be present with the Romanian team at the Billie Jean King Cup match against the Ukrainian team”, announced the Romanian Tennis Federation, on Saturday, on its Facebook page.
The non-playing captain Horia Tecău summoned Ana Bogdan (66 WTA), Jaqueline Cristian (82 WTA), Anca Todoni (226 WTA), Mara Gae (1,053 WTA) for this match. Tecau has not yet announced a replacement for Halep.
The match against Ukraine, from the BJK Cup qualifiers, will take place on April 12 and 13, at Racquet Park Drive in Amelia Island, Fernandina Beach (Florida/USA).
In the context where there are high chances that Simona Halep will accept the wild-card offered by the WTA 250 tournament in Rouen, scheduled starting on April 15, the decision not to play for Romania has sparked numerous comments, including in the foreign press.
“Simona Halep will play at the Rouen Open, on April 15, an indoor tournament in France, category WTA 250, in which names such as Naomi Osaka, Mirra Andreeva or Caroline Garcia will also participate.
Given that Halep had previously played in Stuttgart, it was suggested that she would receive a wild card, but this was hard to come by, given that players such as Emma Răducanu and Angelique Kerber have sponsorship deals with the brand that organizes the tournament, so that they have priority.
But he also pokes fun at her decision to pull out of the Billie Jean King Cup, which put her hopes of qualifying for the Olympics in jeopardy. Simona withdrew from the Billie Jean King Cup match in the previous days, due to medical reasons, but it seems that she will return to action next week, in Rouen”, noted the journalists from tennisuptodate.com.
