(Reuters) - Simona Halep will delay her start to the 2025 season and skip the Australian Open due to pain in her knee and shoulder, the former world number one said on Thursday.
Halep, whose career stalled due to a doping ban that was reduced on appeal this year, had received a wildcard for the Australian Open qualifying tournament last week. She had finished runner-up at the Melbourne major in 2018.
The 33-year-old had also been scheduled to play at a tune-up tournament in Auckland. Halep last played at the World Tennis League exhibition event in Abu Dhabi last week.
"After playing in Abu Dhabi, unfortunately I felt pain in my knee and shoulder once again. After discussing with my team at length, we agreed it is sensible to delay the start of my season," Halep wrote on Instagram.
"It's not what I wanted but I would like to thank the tournament organisers in Auckland and Australia for the wild cards and I'm sorry I won't be able to take them this time."
The Romanian said she intends to return at her home event in Cluj in early February.
Halep was provisionally suspended in October 2022 after she tested positive for roxadustat - a banned drug that stimulates the production of red blood cells - at the U.S. Open that year.
She was later banned for four years, a period which was cut to nine months in March following an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The 2019 Wimbledon champion has denied knowingly taking roxadustat, blaming contaminated supplements for her positive test.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Pritha Sarkar)
