Simona Halep learns to live with burden of expectations

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  • Big ambitions: Simona Halep.

    It is not easy being Simona Halep. She may constantly have a smile on her face but behind that shiny exterior there is a person dealing with an enormous amount of pressure.

    Few players at the top of the game have single-handedly revived tennis in their home country the way Halep has done in Romania. She is regarded as a national hero and with all the adulation, and fandom that surrounds her comes a great deal of expectation from her compatriots – not just within Romania but virtually everywhere she plays.

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    Chants of “SI-MO-NA” are a regular soundtrack to a Halep match. Her fans are vocal, dedicated and put her on a pedestal. In Dubai, she was the only player that had supporters swarming the area around the media centre after her matches, hoping to get a moment with their star. It is a familiar scene at every tournament.

    The fanaticism is also palpable on social media. Send out one tweet about the petite world No2 and you’re bound to get hundreds of retweets and mentions.

    While having a large supporters club is not unique, it is the way Halep is perceived that sets her apart. Her fans consider her the “saviour” of tennis in Romania and while a fellow young star like Garbine Muguruza competes for attention with the likes of Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer in Spain, the Romanians only have Halep at that level – someone with a legitimate chance of winning a major.

    It is both a blessing and a curse.

    “You know in our country everyone is telling me that I have to win all the matches,” Halep told reporters in Singapore on Saturday ahead of her WTA Finals opener against Flavia Pennetta on Sunday.

    “Everyone is speaking about this. But I’m not a robot. I’m a normal girl and normal player. I have ups and downs. I can win a big match. I can lose a smaller match.

    “So I try and be focused on what I have to do, not thinking about results because it’s not good. 

    "Actually, I like the pressure, but the positive pressure, not the negative one when I’m thinking I have to win the match. I just want to always play with full power, full of positive thoughts.”

    Last year, Halep was making her WTA Finals debut (the first Romanian since 1998) following a sensational 2014 that saw her make the French Open final, the Wimbledon semi-finals and Australian Open quarters. She beat Serena Williams in the group stage in the season finale in Singapore before falling to the American in the title match to claim the runner-up trophy.

    This week, the 24-year-old returns to the Singapore Indoor Stadium as the top seed – in Williams’ absence – and despite coming off an Achilles injury, is considered by many as the one to beat. Halep owns the most hard court wins on tour in 2015, claiming 40 victories on the surface against nine losses.

    She had to retire from her opening match in Beijing early this month because of her injury but says she’s had time to recover and has been practicing without pain.

    Listening to her body is something Halep has learned to do the hard way. In the Wimbledon semis against Eugenie Bouchard last year, she hurt her ankle but continued to play, which proved costly. This season, Halep believes she’s been reacting to her injuries in a more appropriate manner.

    “Starting now, my body is more important than anything so I take care of myself better, and I know when to stop and when to push,” says Halep.

    Every match is a tough one when the tournament is comprised of only the top-eight players in the world. But Halep’s White Group includes a particularly challenging opponent in Maria Sharapova, who owns a 5-0 record against her.

    “It’s a tough group. I’ll play against Sharapova. I have never beaten her, but maybe I will have the chance here,” says Halep.

    “I think I have positive thoughts about this match here. I hope and I believe that I have my chance against her. I know how to play against her now and I know how she’s playing better. So I think it’s good timing to face her again so we’ll see…

    "Without Serena, the tournament is more open now, everyone has the chance to win the tournament.”

    Sharapova is a two-time WTA Finals champion, but the Russian has not played a complete match since losing the Wimbledon semi-finals in July as she struggled with an arm and leg injury. The five-time grand slam winner opens against Agnieszka Radwanska today and while many find Williams’ absence as an opportunity to shoot for the title, Sharapova says her lack of match play and physical problems have made that less of a factor for her.

    “Personally, especially in this case, in this tournament, considering I haven’t played much, it doesn’t change much for me. I think it’s not so much who I’m playing against or what my record is than it is about me being out there and staying healthy and working my way through the matches,” said the 28-year-old.

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