Simona Halep on Thursday said she would have to learn to put less pressure on herself after a panic attack interrupted her loss in the second-round at the French Open.
The former world No. 1 and 2018 French Open champion called for a doctor during the third set of her loss to Chinese teenager Zheng Qinwen on Court Simonne Mathieu.
“It was just a panic attack. It happened,” she told reporters with a smile afterward. “I didn’t know how to handle it, because I don’t have it often. I don’t really know why it happened, because I was leading the match, I was playing well.”
Photo: Reuters
“I lost it. I couldn’t focus,” she said. “After the match was pretty tough, but now I’m good. I’m recovered and I will learn from this episode. Nothing like dangerous, in my opinion.”
Halep, who lost three Grand Slam finals before winning majors at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, last year said she sometimes struggled to handle the pressure of being an elite athlete.
The 30-year-old Romanian said she had been given the all clear by doctors after her panic attack and was determined to learn from the experience.
“It’s just a tennis match, so I have to [be] a little bit more relaxed,” she said. “I probably put pressure on myself too much, because I really wanted to do well.”
Zheng is to play France’s Alize Cornet, who defeated Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-0, 1-6, 6-3.
Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching had a win and a loss in her opening matches in the women’s and mixed doubles. In the first round of the women’s doubles, she and partner Shuko Aoyama of Japan fell 6-3, 7-5 against Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania and Colombia’s Maria Camila Osorio Serrano.
In the mixed doubles, she advanced to the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-3 victory alongside Ben McLachlan of Japan, eliminating France’s Benoit Paire and Chloe Paquet.
They face Germany’s Kevin Krawietz and Nicole Melichar of the US tomorrow.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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