“Frustrating All Our Efforts” – WTA Tournament Director Disappointed With the Withdrawal of Simona Halep

After a long suspension of the tennis season, the WTA had planned to resume the Tour with the Palermo Open. Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep was initially supposed to play the event. But now, she has decided to opt-out of it.

Simona Halep Pulls Out of Palermo Open

As you can see in the tweet, Simona Halep has pulled out of the Palermo Open. Her participation was already in doubt due to the recent decision by the Italian Government to quarantine people from Romania. In light of this, many people might not be surprised by this decision.

However, the Tournament Director of the Palermo Open said they were trying to give Halep an exemption from the rule. But since she has now pulled out of the event, their efforts have been in vain. They weren’t too happy about this and in a recent statement said,

“We found out with great bitterness the decision of the World No. 2 to cancel her participation at the 31st Palermo Ladies Open. Yesterday we were optimistic, and we had informed Halep’s staff about the fact that professional players are not obliged to quarantine…Nevertheless, Halep’s staff only communicated to us the final decision, frustrating all of our efforts. We are embittered and profoundly disappointed.”

As Halep’s tweet indicates, she pulled out of the event due to the many cases in Romania. This will make every tennis fan wonder – will she play the US Open that is set to happen only a few weeks after the Palermo Open?

There were a lot of rumors over whether Simona had decided to skip the US Open. However, she cleared things up by saying that she hadn’t yet decided. Since the number of cases in the US is very high, it is likely that she won’t play at the event. This is something every tennis fan out there is hoping won’t happen.

Source: Simona Halep Twitter, Twitter Carole Bouchard