Simona Halep: 'He brought that fire back': How Patrick Mouratoglou helped former world No. 1 rekindle her love for tennis

By Christina Macfarlane and Sana Noor Haq, CNN

Updated 0734 GMT (1534 HKT) May 21, 2022

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(CNN)This time last year, Simona Halep was on the brink of retirement.

The former women's world No. 1 had announced her withdrawal from the 2021 edition of French Open due to a calf injury. Later that season, she also deferred from Wimbledon, and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. «I felt exhausted and I felt that there is no chance I can be in the top anymore,» Halep told CNN Sport's Christina Macfarlane in an exclusive interview with her new coach, Patrick Mouratoglou. «It was really tough to look on the bright side.» Having dropped outside the coveted top 10 world rankings for the first time since January 2014, Halep was falling out of