To honour the performance of a great tennis player and, particularly, the victory at Wimbledon on July 13th, 2019, Romfilatelia introduces into circulation, on Friday 26th, this year, the postage stamps issue Simona Halep, the Romanian tennis ambassador, compound of one perforated souvenir sheet and one imperforated souvenir sheet. On the stamp of the souvenir sheet is illustrated the image of Simona Halep raising the 2019 Wimbledon trophy. The imperforated souvenir sheet, is numbered, and it presents Simona Halep’s signature in gold foiling and it illustrates Simona Halep in the foreground, presenting the trophy to the public. In the stamp of the imperforated souvenir sheet, a image of the game is shown.
Simona conquers London and wins the first Wimbledon tournament from her professional career, after winning the final with a 6-2, 6-2 score, in the face of the previous world’s number one, Serena Williams. This is the first Wimbledon trophy won by a Romanian.
Simona Halep was born on September 27th, 1991, in Constanta. With an impressive record, the young player first put her hand on the tennis racket at the age of four, being trained by her elder brother. Two years later, in her age of six, Simona was already practicing this sport on a daily routine. Years of hard training followed, tennis demanding physical strength, balance, dexterity, flexibility, coordination, concentration and strength.
She made her debut in international competitions in 2008, when she managed to win the juniors tournament in Italy and the Roland Garros dedicated to junior players, in a 100% Romanian final, defeating Ana Bogdan. The tournament in Kristinehamn (Sweden) followed, as well as the doubles within the Futures women’s tournament in Bucharest, alongside Ionela-Andreea Iova.
Simona represented Romania in 17 team meetings at the Federation Cup, where she was first selected in 2010, disputing numerous single and double matches. In 2019, she led the Romanian team in the Fed Cup Semifinal vs France, held in Rouen, France.
The career of the tennis player Simona Halep has seen a spectacular climb as of 2013, year ended on 11th position in the WTA rankings.
Throughout her sports career, until winning the 2018 Roland Garros Grand Slam Tournament, Simona Halep won another 17 WTA singles tournaments (six in 2013, two in 2014, three in 2015, three in 2016, one in 2017, two in 2018) of which the most important being Premier Mandatory tournaments from Indian Wells and Madrid.
After another three Grand Slam finals – two at Roland Garros (2014, and 2017) and one at the Australian Open (2018), Simona Halep won the Roland Garros Grand Slam Tournament (June 9th, 2018).
Until winning the 2018 Roland Garros Grand Slam Tournament, other major prizes include the Premier of Montreal, New Haven, Connecticut, Moscow, Doha, Dubai, as well as the tournament in Sofia. Until winning the 2019 Wimbledon Grand Slam Simona Halep accumulated over 64 weeks as world Number 1.
The Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee (ROSC) awarded Simona Halep, in January 2015, the title of “Sportsman of the Year” for the outstanding results achieved in 2014.
Also, Simona Halep has been nominated, for consecutive two years, namely in 2014 and 2015, by WTA, the most popular player, her player account being the most “accessed” on the women’s professional circuit website, wtatennis.com.
In recognition and appreciation of her sporting performances, Halep was appointed honorary citizen of the cities of Constanta and Busteni in 2014, and of the city of Calarasi and Bucharest, the Capital of Romania, in 2018.
After many years of training and devotement in the service of tennis, Simona Halep succeeded in what was failed by another Romanian until July 13, 2019, the winning of the Wimbledon trophy.
Congratulations, SIMONA!
