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Simona Halep's comeback to professional tennis hit a setback at the beginning of the Miami Open, as she exited in the first round to Paula Badosa. While the 32-year-old certainly was not among the favorites to win the WTA 1000 title, now that the women's singles competition at the tournament has ended, she will walk away with a rather undesirable honor — the wooden spoon.
Halep was served with a four-year ban from professional tennis by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) last year after she tested positive for the illegal substance Roxadustat at the 2022 US Open. The former World No. 1 subsequently won her appeal to the Court of Arbitration (CAS) for her suspension to be shortened, arguing that she had taken the substance against her knowledge.
Since Simona Halep had already been on the sidelines since September 2022, she made her return to the WTA Tour immediately at this month's Miami Open after the CAS cleared her name. That being the case, the Romanian didn't enjoy a good showing at the 1000-level event, losing in the first round to World No. 2 Paula Badosa 6-1, 4-6, 3-6.
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Moreover, Halep's loss set off a chain of events that she wouldn't have foreseen. Badosa dropped her next match to second seed Aryna Sabalenla, who herself exited to Anhelina Kalinina in the Round of 32.
Kalinina then lost to Yulia Putintseva in the following round. The Kazakh was stopped by former Miami champion Victoria Azarenka, who subsequently lost to fourth seed Elena Rybakina in the last four. Rybakina, on her part, lost to unseeded Danielle Collins in the championship match, inadvertently ensuring that Halep would go home with a wooden spoon.
Many fans in the tennis community on X (formerly Twitter) were amused at the above development, especially after learning that Simona Halep had faced a similar fate at the US Open two years ago. One hilariously suggested that it was business as usual for the Romanian.
"Picking up right where she left, lol," they wrote.
Another fan, meanwhile, claimed that a "win was a win", be it silverware or a wooden spoon.
"A win is a win," they wrote.
Here are a few more reactions from social media:
Simona Halep lost to Daria Snigur in the first round of the 2022 US Open, won the 'wooden spoon' two weeks later
Meanwhile, Simona Halep was in good form in the second half of the 2022 WTA Tour season. The Romanian had won her ninth 1000-level title at the National Bank Open in hard-fought fashion in August 2022, leading many fans and pundits to believe that she would go deep at Flushing Meadows.
Halep, however, was in for a rude shock, as she suffered an upset defeat to Ukrainian qualifier Daria Snigur in the first round of the 2022 US Open. The former World No. 1's victor then lost in her next match to Rebecca Marino, who in turn, exited the tournament to Zhang Shuai in the third round.
A teen Coco Gauff subsequently beat Shuai to record her maiden Major quarterfinals in New York, where she lost to 17th-seeded Caroline Garcia. The Frenchwoman then lost to World No. 5 Ons Jabeur in the last four. Jabeur would go on to drop the title clash at Flushing Meadows to top seed Iga Swiatek, thereby handing Halep an unwanted wooden spoon.
