Advertisement

Simona Halep fired to new heights by Fed Cup drama

Simona Halep has been in inspirational form since Constanta tie - Rex Features
Simona Halep has been in inspirational form since Constanta tie - Rex Features

Who knew, when the British Fed Cup team set off for Romania last month, that their visit to the shores of the Black Sea would send such shockwaves around the sport?

Since Constanta captured the attention of the global media, Ilie Nastase – the Romanian captain who derailed the tie with his foul-mouthed abuse – has become one of the most talked-about figures in the game, launching almost as many headlines as Maria Sharapova’s comeback.

Meanwhile Simona Halep, the woman who called for Nastase’s appointment in the first place, can barely stop winning. Even though she will carry a damaged ankle ligament into Monday’s first-round match – against Jana Cepalova of Slovakia – the bookmakers still have her as 11-2 favourite to lift the French Open. Admittedly, people have been backing Halep to win grand slams ever since she made the final here in 2014, only to be regularly disappointed by her habit of flaking out at big moments. This year, though, she has a new fire in her eyes. And the spark that ignited the blaze can be traced back to Constanta, her home town, on the weekend of April 22-23.

“I was emotional,” Halep told Telegraph Sport. “For the first time in 10 years, I was playing at the club where I grew up. I was also extra motivated for everything that had happened [between Nastase and the British team].

“It was a nice experience,” added Halep, who outclassed Heather Watson on the first day before delivering a near-flawless 6-1, 6-3 destruction of Johanna Konta on the second. “I am really happy that for the first time in Fed Cup I won both my matches, so that was really good. It gave me confidence.

(Do not use until Fri May 26) Annabel Croft's players to watch in Paris
(Do not use until Fri May 26) Annabel Croft's players to watch in Paris

“I was working hard before Fed Cup on my attitude, on the mental part. I was strong when I played Fed Cup, and afterwards I kept the same attitude and focus.” A breakthrough win, then? “Yes. I kept the same rhythm and was really good all clay season.”

In a world of prima donnas, Halep is an understated and grounded character, who has never been known to talk herself up. At times, her normalcy may have counted against her, for most tennis champions have at least a hint of megalomania.

For such a quiet achiever, then, the off-court drama swirling around the Tennis Club IDU may have proved unexpectedly useful. It jolted Halep out of her customary introspection. Her certainty against Konta was born of a sense of injustice, and a desire to show that Romania would not be pushed around.

What a contrast to the day, only three weeks earlier, when Halep had faced Konta on the hard courts of the Miami Open, and delivered one of the great chokes. Having served for a straight-sets win, she became mired in her own frustration and received a memorable talking-to from her coach Darren Cahill. “You’ve been in this position many times and most times, you’re coming out second best,” said Cahill, the high-profile Australian who worked with Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi. “You can go down this path and that’s fine. Or you can take a deep breath, put your towel on your head and try and get a little better in these situations.”

10 players you may not have heard of to keep an eye on at the French Open
10 players you may not have heard of to keep an eye on at the French Open

Even if Cahill’s instructions failed to produce an immediate result, Halep understood the logic behind them. “I was really disappointed that I lost that one,” she explains now. “I couldn’t focus on the match any more and I got p-----, I got upset. I was doing the same stuff on the court in a few matches, but that was the worst example, for sure. I realised that it brings my energy down when I behaved like that, so then I tried to solve it.”

Cahill didn’t just tell Halep – who is 25 – that he was fed up with her mental state. He acted on it, by absenting himself for her side for a few weeks. For all the expertise that he has brought to Halep’s corner in the last 2½ seasons, this may have been his best move yet. By the time that Cahill returned, just over a fortnight ago, his client had rediscovered her mojo in fine style. She reached the semi-final of Stuttgart and then defended her own title at the Mutua Madrid Open, the tournament run by her compatriot Ion Tiriac.

But this has been a season of unstinting tennis controversy, and even that triumph managed to reignite the same debate that has lingered since Constanta. Tiriac invited Nastase, his old doubles partner, on to the court for the victory ceremony, and Halep was clearly delighted to be reunited with her disgraced Fed Cup captain. Steve Simon, in one of his more decisive moments as head of the Women’s Tennis Association, responded very differently.

“It was both irresponsible and unacceptable of the Madrid Open to bestow him an official role,” said Simon, alluding to the fact that Nastase was already serving a provisional ban imposed by the International Tennis Federation. “He had no place on court.”

So what does Halep make of that latest fuss around Nastase, the embarrassing uncle who continues to lurk on the edge of tennis’s family photos? To her credit, she has said all along that his behaviour on the court in Constanta was unacceptable. Yet she doesn’t quite see why he continues to be persecuted.

“He just got a picture with me,” she added, “and I was really happy about that. He didn’t give me the trophy. Ilie is friends with Ion and that’s why he was present there.”

“I don’t want to comment,” she added, in relation to Simon’s criticism. “I think other stuff has to be fixed than Ilie.”