Huge controversy after Simona Halep’s manager criticizes Bianca Andreescu

Simona Halep played at the WTA Finals this week. She has been a regular at the tournament in the last few years. The Romanian player’s best performance at the tournament was reaching the finals in 2014. She lost the final to Serena Williams. The two-time Grand Slam champion began this year’s tournament with a victory over Bianca Andreescu.

Halep and Andreescu’s match in Shenzhen

Halep and Andreescu played each other for the first time in Shenzhen. Bianca has mentioned the Romanian as one of her role models. The Canadian has had a spectacular year, winning her first Grand Slam title in September in a victory over Williams. The 19-year-old also has Romanian roots. Her parents, Nicu and Maria, moved from Romania to Canada before she was born. Andreescu and Simona played out a thrilling match. Halep prevailed over the Canadian after making a comeback from a set down to win the match. However, the world No.4 struggled with a back injury during the match and had difficulty moving on the court in the deciding set. While Halep was respectful to Bianca after the victory, her manager posted a controversial congratulations message to his client.

Halep’s manager makes controversial comments

In an Instagram post, Cosmin Hodor posted that Simona had proved that Romanians did not have to leave the country to achieve success. He said that citizens of the country had a perception that they had to immigrate to another country in order to be successful. Cosmin went further and compared Andreescu’s success to his clients. He said that Halep had set an example for all Romanians to be champions for their country. “Bianca is a champion of Canada, and Simona’s proposal for us is to be champions for Romania.” He ended the post by saying that Romanian’s parents deserved gratitude for choosing not to finance another country or play for another flag.

Some pundits have criticized Cosmin’s comments. They have stated that Andreescu’s parents were free to choose where to live and which country their daughter would represent. They also pointed out that Romania has not enjoyed a lot of sporting success recently. Many tennis players, including Halep, sometimes train in other countries for major tournaments. Andreescu and Halep did not have much success in the WTA Finals. After defeating the Canadian, Halep lost her remaining matches in the tournament. She lost to Elina Svitolina in straight sets before suffering defeat to Karolina Pliskova. Andreescu withdrew from the tournament after suffering a knee injury in her match against Pliskova.

Simona Halep’s ranking and performance in 2019

Ranked no.5, Simona played her last match on the 1^st of November when she had to bow to Karolina Pliskova 6-0 2-6 6-4 in the Round Robin in Shenzhen.

This year Halep has a 39-17 win-loss record. Halep clinched 1 title in Wimbledon. Halep was the finalist in Doha and in Madrid.

Bianca Vanessa Andreescu’s ranking and performance in 2019

Ranked no.4 (career-high), Bianca Vanessa played her last match on the 30^th of October when she capitulated to Karolina Pliskova 6-3 ret. in the Round Robin in Shenzhen.

This year Andreescu has a 46-7 win-loss record. Andreescu conquered 4 titles in 2019 in the Newport Beach, in Indian Wells, in Toronto and at the U.S. Open. The Canadian was the finalist in Auckland.

Simona Halep and Bianca Vanessa Andreescu played each other 1 time. The head to head is 1-0 for Halep.

The last time that they locked horns, Simona Halep won 3-6 7-6⁶ 6-3 in the R in Shenzhen on the 28^th October 2019.

Here the highlights.