Returning to the WTA tournament after a year and a half break (she was defeated by Paula Badosa in the first round of Miami), Simona Halep announced the name of her new coach, with whom she will try to return to the elite of women’s tennis, after the doping scandal in which she was involved.

>> Simona Halep’s reaction after an important rival said that athletes with a positive test should not receive a wild card

Carlos Martinez Comet, the new coach of Simona Halep

In an interview with DigiSport, the two-time Grand Slam champion said that she will train with Carlos Martinez Comet.

“I spoke with Carlos Martinez, I will have a period of preparation, acquaintance, so to speak, after Miami, when I return to Europe. I hope everything goes well, I really appreciate him, he worked with players I really liked, like Svitlana Kuznetsova, and I really, really admire his work.

I hope we get along and I hope I can work at the level he wants and we can work well together.” – Simona Halep for Gabriel Morario, representative of DigiSport in Miami.

49-year-old Carlos Martinez Comet also trained Kateryna Bindl, Klara Toson, Svitlana Kuznetsova, Daria Kasatkina, Misa Eguchi and Margarita Betova.

It is updated.

>> WTA Miami: Paula Badoza reacts to the return of the Romanian to the court after the victory over Simona Halep

Find out after the match between Simona Halep and Paula Bados

• Simona Halep will receive a check for $23,250 and 10 points in the world singles ranking (she ranks 1140th in the Live hierarchy) for being in the main draw of WTA Miami.

• Paula Bados (80 WTA) should play in the second round. Aryna Sabalenko (2 WTA), if the player from Belarus does not decide to withdraw (after the death of her lover).

• This is Paula’s first victory over Simona. In the first meetings (both took place in 2022), the Romanian won: 6-3, 6-1 in Madrid and 6-1, 6-2 in Wimbledon.

• After Simona HalepAna Bohdan and Jacqueline Christian were eliminated in the first round, Romania has only one representative in Miami: Sorana Kirstia (second round – match with Sloane Stevens or Angelique Kerber).

• Simona Halep played her last official match on August 29, 2022. At the US Open, in the inaugural round, our athlete unexpectedly defeated Daria Snigur (at that time she was ranked 124th in the WTA qualification ranking).

• 18 months of nightmare followed for the former WTA leader – she was banned for 4 years for two separate violations of the Tennis Anti-Doping Program (TADP): the presence and use of the substance roxadustat in a urine sample collected after an anti-doping test. test conducted at the US Open 2022 (1) and irregularities in his biological passport (2). Halep appealed to the CAS, which reduced her sentence to 9 months.