VIDEO: Halep addresses Bouchard's 'attitude'

World No. 3 Simona Halep, missing in action at last weekend's Fed Cup tie between Romania and Canada, still made her presence felt. The 2015 Indian Wells champion tweaked Eugenie Bouchard's much-maligned refusal to shake the hand of her first Romanian foe, Alexandra Dulgheru, at the tie's preliminary press conference. Here's the footage of Halep's statements, delivered in her native tongue:

"I don't want to comment on the gesture, it depends on the person's education," Halep said, commenting on the gesture. "I would never do that but it's maybe just how she was raised and we have to accept this attitude. ... Alex played really well and I'm very happy she beat Bouchard. [Her celebration] was very well thought of and actually funny."

That "education" bit from Halep can only drum up memories of this 1999 exchange between Martina Hingis and Serena Williams, in which Williams, speaking to Hingis' penchant of "speaking her mind," offered, "I just guess that has a little bit to do with not having a formal education":

Bouchard lost both of her singles matches as Canada went down to Romania over the weekend. "I might lose 10 matches in a row before something clicks," she told her home nation's Sportsnet in Montreal about what she herself has termed a "sophomore slump." Elsewhere in that interview, she said, "I've probably been too worried about external things, and now I see how it doesn't help me in matches. ... If I lose points, I lose points. If my ranking drops two spots, it's not the end of the world."

Says here it's not a bad move on Halep's part to weigh in on the mini-controversy that is "Handshake-gate." Unwittingly or not, she's basically re-establishing the WTA pecking order. Halep may not have risen to Serena or Maria Sharapova's heights yet in tennis, but she's not backing down from an opportunity to size up and dress down a rival—even when she feigns avoiding doing just that.

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