No matter who Simona Halep draws in the first round in Flushing Meadows, the world No. 1 should be able to relax. The questions that followed her last year in New York (Will she reach No. 1?), and then this year in Melbourne and Paris (Will she win a Grand Slam title?) – they've all gone away, becoming mere memories in the career of a woman who has distinguished herself as the clear No. 1 player in the world this year, even with six-time US Open champion Serena Williams back in the fold.
It hardly looked as if that would be the case in January, though, when Halep, playing in her third Grand Slam final, had to feel the doubts and questions haunting her once more. In a battle of players who had reached No. 1 without a Grand Slam title, Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki, in her 43rd Grand Slam tournament, overcame Halep, 7-6, 3-6, 6-4. The two-hour, 50-minute final left Halep with an 0-3 record in Grand Slam finals, and in the hospital. The Romanian spent four hours there recovering from dehydration.
“I want to win. I'm still losing, and I'm still waiting. Maybe the fourth one will be with luck,” Halep said.
She continued on with Aussie Darren Cahill, the former coach of Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi, by her side. Last year in March, Cahill, disappointed with her attitude, had left Halep.
But by Madrid, almost two months later, Cahill was impressed with her newfound positivity and returned. His brief departure was no mastermind “tactic” or part of a grand scheme, he said. It was more of a “last resort” move.
“We'd worked through a series of structures to try to help her get better on the court, and she was still getting in the way of herself. So I didn't know if that was me being the roadblock or whether it was more her,” Cahill said.
“It was either basically a problem with me and she needed to hear a new voice, and the last thing any coach wants to do is hold a player back. I was having these internal discussions with myself as to, 'Okay, maybe she does need a new voice, or maybe she needs a spark-plug moment where it might be a bit of a wakeup call for her to really look inside herself, try to get better and get the most out of herself.'”
Last October, when Halep reached No. 1 for the first time, it was clear she had experienced her “spark-plug” moment. And by the time Roland Garros rolled around in late May, Halep looked ready to check off another career milestone and hoist her first Grand Slam trophy.
I believed in that, and my game was more relaxed. I could make more things on court, and that's why I could win.
A week earlier, she reached the Rome final (l. to Elina Svitolina), avenging her Indian Wells semifinal loss by routing Japan's Naomi Osaka, dismissing seventh seed Caroline Garcia and then gaining revenge for her 2017 US Open first-round loss to Maria Sharapova, a two-time Roland Garros champion.
In Paris, Halep had to overcome more “what-if” moments. Last year, she led first-time Grand Slam finalist Jelena Ostapenko by a set and a break, 6-4, 3-0. But the 20-year-old stormed back, overpowering Halep with a barrage of 54 winners.
This time, Halep was the comeback kid. Reigning US Open champion Sloane Stephens was two games from the title, leading 6-3, 4-4. Halep thought it was done, a thought which actually freed her to win her first Grand Slam title.
“I felt that and I said, 'It's not going to happen again, but it's okay. I have just to play.' And then when I started to win games, I said that last year happened to me, same thing, I was set and a break up and I lost the match. So I said there is a chance to come back and win it,” she said.
“So I believed in that, and my game was more relaxed. I could make more things on court, and that's why I could win.”
She's only kept winning since then, beating Stephens for the sixth consecutive time to win the Montreal title earlier this month. To date, Halep has won 17 of her past 19 matches, with her only defeats coming in the Wimbledon third round (Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei) and in the final of the US Open Series event in Cincinnati (Kiki Bertens of The Netherlands).
“The pressure is off. The dream came true. So I don't stress myself anymore with that Grand Slam thing. It's nice to be in this position,” Halep said.
She will be in a brand-new position in Queens. For the first time, Halep will be the No. 1 seed of the season's final Grand Slam tournament. She has never reached a US Open final, falling in the 2015 semifinal (l. to eventual champion Flavia Pennetta) and 2016 quarterfinal (l. to Serena Williams) before one of the most unfavorable draws in recent memory.
At the time, Halep trailed Maria Sharapova 6-0 in their career head to heads, but she has since beaten the Russian twice, including on the Beijing hard courts last October. Come Halep's opener in Flushing Meadows, the Romanian should carry few worries and plenty of confidence. Halep, who's already qualified for the year-end finals in Singapore, can only pad her race to Singapore lead at the Open.
“I don't believe that now is going to be a bigger pressure than before because before was huge pressure and everyone was talking that I'm not able to win a Grand Slam because I am weak mentally. But now I did it,” Halep said. “I feel like the people realize that if you don't give up, if you work, keep working on what you have less good, you can be able to realize your dream.”
