Simona Halep practices on site at Roland Garros despite being denied French Open 2024 wildcard

Simona Halep recently practiced at court Philippe Chatrier with Frenchwomen Alize Cornet after she was denied a wildcard for the French Open. She won the tournament in 2018 and was a finalist in 2014 and 2017.

Halep was suspended following a doping violation in 2023 and was subsequently sentenced to a four-year ban from tennis. She appealed against the decision, which was later reduced to a nine-month ban. The Romanian returned to tennis at the 2024 Miami Open, for which she received a wildcard. She lost to Paula Badosa in three sets.

The former World No. 1 did not compete at the Madrid Open despite being awarded a wildcard, citing a lack of competitive fitness.

She also skipped the Italian Open and instead opted for the WTA 125 tournament in Paris. She played her first match against Mccartney Kessler, winning the first set 7-5 but had to retire during the second set at 2-3 due to a knee injury.

Before her match, Halep practiced with Alize Cornet on-site at Roland Garros despite being denied a wildcard for the clay court Slam. Cornet took to X to share a video from the practice session.

"End of career bucket list: Playing with Simona Halep on Philippe Chatrier ✅ Huge love!" Cornet wrote (translated from French).

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Simona Halep about how she spent time away from tennis - "I just enjoyed life day by day"

Simona Halep at the 2024 Miami Open

Simona Halep recently gave an interview to Tennis Channel and talked about how she spent time away from tennis during her doping trial.

The former World No. 1 said that she started to take care of herself as a person rather than as an athlete. The Romanian also added that she took it one day at a time and tried to live a normal life, which she could not enjoy earlier because of her strict tennis schedule.

Halep also said that she could enjoy the smaller things in life, like sitting by the pool and going to a hair salon.

“I was focusing more on my person than [as] an athlete. So I was taking care of my body, I was taking care of my mental, I transformed everything into a personal lifestyle. I just enjoyed life day by day, that I never had the chance to live normal in this 25 years because I was always, in the schedule, always strict, always something to do," Halep said to Tennis Channel. [7:25]

"The schedule was like an army, I would say. And now it was like I could go by the pool, I could go to a hair salon, I could go to do all this stuff that a person, normal person can do it. So I enjoyed it,” she added.

Simona Halep is a two-time Grand Slam winner, bagging the 2018 French Open and 2019 Wimbledon.