Simona Halep, who has reached the final in Toronto, said that while she realizes that it is extremely important to focus on the Grand Slams, the other tournaments are also important too.
The world No. 3 has won Shenzhen, Dubai and Indian Wells this season, all on hard courts. However, the 23-year-old has not competed well at the Grand Slams, going down to Ekaterina Makarova in the fourth round at the Austrian Open, losing to Mirjana Lucic-Baron in the second round at the French Open, and then falling to Jana Cepelova in the first round at Wimbledon.
"We speak about Grand Slams like something very big. But we have to take those tournaments like every one which you play every week, because these tournaments are pretty big, and it's like a Grand Slam," Halep said. "Here you play in the first round with top players. So it's not a big difference. But in our mind I think the Grand Slam is the most important. This year I wasn't too good. I thought that I have to repeat the result in the French Open, so it wasn't too good. But for me now, after a long break home, I just reset my mind and I said that I have to play every match, every tournament if I can play like semis, final. So I don't think about Grand Slams
anymore."
On hard courts this season, Halep has has gone 29-3. She has beaten the likes of Makarova, Caroline Wozniacki, Karolina Pliskova and Jelena Jankovic, among others. "Looks like I like to play on hard courts. I am pretty confident on the hard court,and I think I have the game to play here," the Romanian said. "I just feel that I can run very well on hard court and I can take the ball very fast, to be aggressive. I like to finish the point as soon as possible, but sometimes with some players it's not easy, so I think I have a good game for hard court and it's my favorite for sure."