Simona Halep hoping to play in next month's Palermo Open
Halep: "I have not yet made a clear decision but I hope to start with Palermo"
Monday 6 July 2020 11:35, UK
Simona Halep hopes to take part in next month's Palermo Open, the first WTA event to be held after the shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The world No 2 has not played since her win over Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in February.
But Halep will hope to make her return on August 3 at the tournament in Palermo with organisers hopeful of inviting some of the world's best players.
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The fact that I didn't travel a lot was also a good thing, because I rested a lot, I wanted this. I hope all the madness is over.
"I have not yet made a clear decision but I hope to start with Palermo," last year's Wimbledon champion Halep told reporters in the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca before her return to the court after a four-and-a-half-month absence.
"It's hard without tournaments, I miss them, I hope we can travel quietly and without fear soon, because it's a little worrying.
"My life has changed, everything is different. But the fact that I didn't travel a lot was also a good thing, because I rested a lot, I wanted this. I hope all the madness is over."
Halep has already suggested that she does not plan to play the US Open, which starts in New York at the end of August.
The 28-year-old, however, said she could reconsider if the pandemic situation improved by the entry deadline in mid-July.
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