“Wimbledon had become hard for her” Simona Halep’s coach Patrick Mouratoglou reveals how the Romanian lost in the semis of Wimbledon 2022


“Wimbledon had become hard for her” Simona Halep’s coach Patrick Mouratoglou reveals how the Romanian lost in the semis of Wimbledon 2022

Patrick Mouratoglou and Simona Halep

Former World No. 1 and 2019 Wimbledon champion Simona Halep bowed out of the 2022 Wimbledon Championships with a straight-set defeat in the semi-finals against 23-year-old Elena Rybakina who reaches her first major final. Rybakina won the match 6-3, 6-3 to end Halep’s streak of 12 consecutive Wimbledon wins as the former World No. 1 had not played since winning the title in 2019.

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Halep was the only woman left in the semi-finals to have won a major and was the heavy favourite against the lesser experienced Rybakina. The Kazakhstani player however brought out a dominating game against Halep leaving her with very little space as she dropped sets for the first time in this year’s edition but was unable to stage a comeback and went out in straight-sets.

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“Simona Halep didn’t have her chance”: Patrick Mouratoglou

Simona Halep and Patrick Mouratoglou
Simona Halep and Patrick Mouratoglou

Halep was looking to win her third career Grand Slam title and she was on track having reached her first major semi-finals since the 2020 Australian Open. But Rybakina proved too good for her and Mouratoglou later revealed that apart from the brilliance of Rybakina, Halep’s own demons took her down.

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“Of course, it’s always difficult to lose while being two matches away from a Grand Slam crown, but she simply didn’t have her chance against a very strong opponent who, overall, played an almost-perfect match. But our spirit is still great. This loss doesn’t change anything in terms of the process. Simona was very tired physically and emotionally after four weeks in a row of competitive tennis. That was long. It was the end of this road and she struggled to find the resources needed to counterpunch such an opponent.

“No, I didn’t but I knew Wimbledon had started to become hard (for her) emotionally speaking. This fatigue is the explanation of why she failed in finding the needed resources to respond. The resources, she has them, plenty of them. Tactically, there was options she could take, but she simply wasn’t in the capacity to see them. She collapsed on her serve even if her stats on this shot are far better than before. That’s the typical process when you are tired, you can’t find the energy to try new things and you’re back to how you did before,” said Patrick.

Upon asked about plans for the second half of the season, Patrick replied, “The program is clear, holidays because she needs them. Then, Washington, Toronto, Cincinnati and the US Open, with one week of practice. She already trained a lot and she is in a good rhythm. Better to compete,” in comments from Tennis Majors.

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