Halep is back on the tour after winning an appeal that saw her suspension reduced to nine months, meaning she had technically been eligible to compete since July 2023. She wasted no time in getting back to competition after accepting a wildcard into the Miami Open where she lost to Paula Badosa in three sets.
The former world No. 1 had a new coach in tow when she arrived in Florida. Martinez – a familiar face on the WTA Tour – had previously worked with the likes of Daria Kasatlina, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Clara Tauson. And he decided to join forces with Halep for her comeback.
The Spanish coach told Punto De Break that it was Darren Cahill who intervened to set up a trial with Halep. Cahill worked with Halep on and off from 2016 to 2021 and now mentors ATP No. 3 Sinner, recently leading him to the Australian Open title.
The Australian has remained in contact with Halep and staunchly defended her throughout her doping saga, even vouching for her to an independent tribunal last summer. So it comes as no surprise that he contacted Martinez, though Halep’s new coach became convinced after hearing how eager she was to join forces with him.
“The fact that Simona was so convinced that she wanted to work with me was what ended up convincing me, if she shows interest I show the same or more,” he said. “I have seen that she has things very clear, at this point we no longer have to instil in her how things are done, she already comes with that foundation of so many years of experience.”
Cahill did share his own experience of coaching Halep with Martinez as the Spaniard added: “She is a person with a lot of personality, she has a strong character and knows perfectly what she wants. I still don’t know her that well, I know that she is a good girl, but what Darren tells me is that she is very demanding.”
Halep and Martinez will now go back to the drawing board after Halep’s 1-6 6-4 6-3 defeat to Badosa in Miami. “It would be logical that the fine-tuning would take some time. We are talking about a person who has not competed for more than a year and a half, it will not be a quick process, but I prefer to stay with the positive aspects,” Halep’s new coach said.
Before the Miami Open, the 32-year-old had not played a match since August 2022. She was provisionally suspended in October of that year for testing positive for the banned substance roxadustat in a doping test at the US Open.
A few months later, she received a second charge relating to her athlete biological passport. An independent tribunal charged her with both anti-doping violations last summer and handed Halep a four-year ban. But she appealed to CAS last month, with the panel throwing out the ABP charge and accepting her argument that the roxadustat came from a contaminated supplement.
