Revived and refocused, Simona Halep stands motivated as ever ahead of US Open title tilt

Exclusive interview: After victory at this year's French Open, Halep insists there is no danger that she will lose any motivation now that she has achieved her biggest goals

'I’m still very motivated and I feel like I have a big chance to achieve more' (Getty)

What a difference a year can make. Simona Halep will start the US Open here this week as the world No 1 and as a reigning Grand Slam champion following her triumph at this summer’s French Open, which is quite a contrast compared with her situation 12 months ago.

At last year’s US Open, Halep’s defeat to Maria Sharapova in the first round was the latest in a succession of setbacks for the Romanian. It followed three losses in matches in which victory would have taken her to the top of the world rankings for the first time, while her early exit condemned her to another year without a Grand Slam title.

Barely a month after that loss to Sharapova, however, Halep finally claimed the world No 1 position. By this summer she had also achieved her greatest ambition by winning a Grand Slam title. Her victory at Roland-Garros in June followed defeats in all three of her previous Grand Slam finals.

Becoming world No 1, particularly when you have not won a Grand Slam title, can weigh heavily on the shoulders of some players. Halep, however, has not looked back since going to the top of the ladder last autumn, even if she suffered another disappointment at Grand Slam level when she lost in the final of this year’s Australian Open to Caroline Wozniacki in January.

“I feel more confident,” Halep told The Independent. “I feel that everything I dreamed of became reality. I feel like nothing is on my shoulders any more. But I’m still very motivated and I feel like I have a big chance to achieve more.”

Halep has held the No 1 spot for all but four weeks since last October. She currently leads second-placed Wozniacki by more than 2,000 points. As the 26-year-old Romanian has no points to defend here, the next fortnight offers a good chance to extend her lead.

“It’s going to be nice if I can do a good result here,” Halep said. “Maybe my goal is to see if I can finish No 1 again this year, but I’m pretty relaxed about it.”

Halep insists there is no danger that she will lose any motivation now that she has achieved her biggest goals. “I could even say that I’m now more motivated,” she said. “Because I’ve won one Grand Slam title I feel like I have a good chance to win more. I’m going to work hard, I’ll continue to do the same things, to be professional, and I’ll look forward to more of these good moments.”

Halep currently leads second-placed Wozniacki by more than 2,000 points in the world rankings (Getty)

Last year’s first-round defeat here was not the biggest surprise given that Sharapova had won all six of her previous meetings with Halep, but the Russian was ranked No 146 in the world after making a stop-start comeback following her 15-month suspension for a drugs offence.

“I didn’t play badly, but I think she had extra motivation to do well here,” Halep said. “It was good timing for her. She didn’t have any pressure. She was facing the world No 2. Maybe she had greater energy than me to win that match.”

Although Halep will be expected to win her first-round match on Monday against Kaia Kanepi, she is in a tricky part of the draw. The world No 1 is seeded to meet Serena or Venus Williams in the fourth round and Karolina Pliskova or Garbine Muguruza in the quarter-finals.

“It’s a tough draw, but I don’t have drama in my mind,” Halep said. “I just look forward to starting this one. I’m just here to give everything I have. If I do that, I’m OK.”

Halep feels comfortable going into the tournament as top seed. “After the French Open, I haven’t felt the pressure any more because I like to be in this position,” she said. “It’s the best thing to be there. I can say I have a big chance for this tournament, but it’s tough to say that I’m the favourite, even if I’m No 1.

The Romanian finally got her hands on a Grand Slam title earlier this year (Getty)

“You can see now the level [of all players] is very tough. Everyone is playing at maybe the highest level. Every match, every round is difficult. I’m just looking forward to playing my first match. If I win it, I will focus on the next one just like that.”

Halep has looked in good shape in the two tournaments she has played on hard courts this summer, having won the title in Montreal and reached the final in Cincinnati. She is certainly in a much better frame of mind than she was at Wimbledon, where she admitted after her third-round defeat to Su-Wei Hsieh that she felt mentally exhausted.

A three-week break after Wimbledon, including a beach holiday in the Bahamas, helped to revive the world No 1.

“I had time to refresh my mind and my emotions,” she said. “I was really motivated when I came back. I felt like I had a good game and was playing well, so I just had to keep my confidence high. Of course I had some tough matches, especially the first one in Montreal, but after I won that I felt better inside.”