Returning to the WTA circuit after a break of a year and a half (she was defeated by Paula Badosa in the first round in Miami), Simona Halep communicated the name of her new coach, with whom she will try to return to the elite of women’s tennis, after the doping scandal for which she was suspended.
The double Grand Slam champion (Roland Garros 2018 and Wimbledon 2019) announced that she will train alongside Carlos Martinez Comet.
“I spoke with Carlos Martinez, I will have a period of preparation, of getting to know each other, so to speak, after Miami, when I return to Europe. I hope it goes well, I appreciate him a lot, he worked with players that I really liked, like Svetlana Kuznetsova, and I admire his work very, very much. I hope we get along and I hope I can work at the level he wants and we can do good work together,” Simona Halep told DigiSport.
Simona Halep lost the match with Paula Badosa, from the first round in Miami on Wednesday. The match, lost in three sets, 6-1, 4-6, 3-6, was the first one played by Simona Halep after 569 days, being suspended, initially for four years, because she was detected positive for roxadustat. The Court of Arbitration for Sport announced, on March 5, the reduction of Simona Halep’s suspension from four years to nine months. According to CAS, the Romanian’s suspension period expired on July 6, 2023, i.e. approximately eight months ago, so the former WTA leader can now return to competitions.
Simona admitted that she is not at the best physical level. “Of course, I’m not at the best physical level, but I feel good, working in the gym every day helped me (…) Paula was a very good opponent, with a high level of tennis, I enjoyed my presence on the court, the fact that so many people support me”, she said.
Who is Carlos Martinez Comet?
Aged 49, Carlos Martinez Comet has also coached Kateryna Baindl (Kozlova), Clara Tauson, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Daria Kasatkina, Misa Eguchi and Margarita Gasparyan (Betova). The Spaniard has also worked with Galo Blanco, Fernando Vicente, Marc Lopez, German Puentes and Feliciano Lopez. He achieved important results with Svetlana Kuznetsova. The Russian won two WTA titles (Sydney and Moscow, both in 2016), qualified for the 2016 Tournament of Champions and reached three other major finals (Indian Wells, Miami and Madrid).
He helped Margarita Gasparyan to her second WTA title at Tashkent 2018.
Martinez coached Daria Kasatkina for four years and guided her to four titles – Phillip Island Trophy, St Petersburg (2021), San Jose and Granby (2022) – and a Grand Slam semi-final (Roland Garros 2022).
At the end of the collaboration, the coach revealed that he recommended the Russian “to go to a psychologist”.
According to WTA, he likes fishing, music and sports. He is married and has two daughters. In 2013, Martinez opened his own tennis academy, CMC Competition. Currently, 9 professional players are training there.
As a player, Martinez peaked at No. 400 in the ATP singles rankings and No. 180 in the doubles rankings.
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