Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep has pulled out of Australian Open qualifying and will postpone the start of her 2025 campaign.
The 33-year-old has received wild cards to qualify for the Australian Open and the Auckland Classic, which starts live on Monday. Sky Sports Tennis British Emma Radukanu is among the competing names.
Halep will be out for at least a month with knee and shoulder pains after taking part in an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi earlier this month.
He plans to begin his season at the Transylvania Open in early February.
“After playing in Abu Dhabi, unfortunately, I felt pain in my knee and shoulder again,” he wrote on the social network.
“After a long discussion with my team, we agreed that it is reasonable to delay the start of my season.
“It’s not what I wanted, but I’d like to thank the tournament organizers in Auckland and Australia for the wild cards and I’m sorry I won’t be able to take them this time.”
Simona Halep was banned for four years, but that was later reduced to nine months in March after an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Halep, who had a four-year doping ban reduced to nine months, last played on the WTA Tour in Hong Kong in October.
He was runner-up at the 2018 Australian Open and won major titles at the French Open later that year and at Wimbledon in 2019.
Halep is currently ranked 877th in the world, having not played a Grand Slam since 2022 due to a doping scandal.
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