BRISBANE—No. 2 Simona Halep has pulled out of Brisbane due to a sore Achilles.
She wants to play the Australian Open, but isn’t sure if she can yet.
The Romanian will go to the Sydney tournament next week and she hopes to play, but she cannot run fast now.
“I hope and I want to play (at the Australian Open),” Halep said. “I have (a) couple of weeks already again with the pain. I thought that I'm ready to play. I came here. I want to play, to start the year here, but I'm not full. I cannot have a full match, and I thought that it's more important to be ready and to take a break a little bit. I did an MRI and it's nothing dangerous, but it's still an inflammation.”
In December, Halep was working at home in Romania with her coach, Darren Cahill. She said that she is stronger and better overall, but in the past two weeks she was unable to move as usual.
“I couldn't run like full,” she said. “It's tough to go on court playing a match without being 100 percent full because, here, every match is strong. I have to take care of my injury."
Halep has been dealing with injuries on and off since August, but she said that her doctor indicated surgery isn’t necessary. The 24-year-old would like to play Sydney and the Australian Open, but she doesn’t want her leg to worsen.
“I have to see,” she said. “I don't want (to) force it because it's a tough injury. I hope to be okay to play. I don't believe that I have to do any surgery.”