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On the day Simona Halep began, once more, to jumpstart her career came the news of another multiple former Grand Slam champion returning to the WTA Tour.

That is Petra Kvitova, whose return from maternity leave is set for the WTA 250 in Austin, Texas later this month, ahead of Indian Wells and Miami.

The circumstances couldn’t be more different. One return is fraught and a little bittersweet.

The other is somewhat of a surprise.

Halep out in Transylvania doubles

Halep, still just 33 – 18 months younger than Kvitova – returned again Monday in doubles at her home-country tournament in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Paired with fellow Romanian Ana Bondar, Halep looked fit. But her shots had almost no sting as the pair were defeated by the rather obscure team of Emily Appleton and Tang Qianhui, 7-6 (5), 6-1.

Her serve, in particular – even her first serve – was smacked back with aplomb. And her delivery had a few hitches in it that prevented her from getting much rhythm.

Time after time, Tang would easily intercept her groundstrokes at the net and finish off the volley.

It’s not surprising – beyond the fact that she wouldn’t consider doubles something she excels at – that Halep’s game wouldn’t be there. As she grappled with a lengthy anti-doping suspension that was ultimately reduced by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, it didn’t appear Halep played much tennis.

And once she returned, her body has betrayed her.

She was out from the 2022 US Open, where whe lost in three sets in her opening match to qualifier Daria Snigur, to Miami nearly a year ago. That’s about 18 months, much of which was spent battling her doping suspension with a top legal team.

Quick return in Miami – too quick?

The Miami effort came shortly after the announcement of her reduced suspension, which made her immediately eligible to return. But it’s unlikely she was close to ready. Halep lost in three sets to Paula Badosa and was gone for another two months, until a WTA 125 in Paris the week before Roland Garros.

There, she retired in the second set of her first-round match against American McCartney Kessler.

Halep was MIA again until early October, where she won a match at a WTA 125 in Hong Kong before getting just three games in a second-round defeat to Russia’s Anna Blinkova.

A month later, she lost in the first round of the WTA event in Hong Kong to Yuan Yue. And that was the last time she competed. Until Monday.

Scheduled to come to Auckland and the Australian Open, Halep pulled out because of knee and shoulder woes.

In a press conference before the tournament, Halep admitted her body wasn’t in top shape, and she was even suffering from a cold.

The knee issue is probably a career-ender, although she didn’t play with any wrapping on Monday. When Halep plays, she said there is pain, and she’s wary of pushing it. She said the advice was to have surgery, an operation she termed a “complicated procedure”. And she doesn’t think she will do it. Which will likely answer the question.

Currently ranked No. 870 based upon that one win in Hong Kong, Halep isn’t eligible for a protected ranking because of the reason for her absence. And it remains to be seen how doggedly she will pursue what likely will be her last opportunity to return.

She will make her singles return Tuesday night against Lucia Bronzetti of Italy.

It could be a farewell.

For Kvitova, an … unexpected return?

Of all the players we didn’t expect to return from maternity leave or retirement, Ashleigh Barty remains at the top of the list.

Kvitova was a close second. In part it’s because of her age – she’ll be 35 next month, right as Indian Wells gets going.

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She’s been at this at the highest level for 15 years. And even before her marriage to coach Jiri Vanek in July 2023, and the birth of son Petr last July, there was a certain sense of ennui around her as she sort of slogged her way around the circuit.

(There’s no record of players’ activity on the WTA site once they’ve been inactive for a period of time – don’t get us started on that). But according to the ITF website, her last match was a 6-4, 7-5 loss to Liudmila Samsonova in the second round of the Beijing tournament in Oct. 2023.

As it happened, the Czech lefty underwent somewhat of a renaissance in 2023, when she won the Miami Open, and the WTA 500 in Berlin on grass a few months later. After that, she never had a “bad loss” – in other words, when she did lose she always went down to a quality player. But it almost felt like a last gasp, on some level.

Kvitova played her first pro event all the way back in June 2006, when she was just 16, a $75K ITF in Prostejov, Czechia. That’s nearly 19 years ago.

A new start and a better ending?

Perhaps the year and a half away has given the 34-year-old a fresh burst of energy on the tennis side, and she wants to go out having given it everything she has. There also is surely some money left on the table; witness Caroline Wozniacki’s return at a similar age after two children – a comeback that likely was profitable, but sputtered out after a heartening start.

It’s certainly a welcome comeback; between the crowning of Madison Keys as Australian Open champion and this news, 2025 has so far been a feel-good story for the good gals.

Kvitova’ ranking at the time of her maternity break was No. 14. So that should get her into whatever she wants, along with the possibility of getting top-20 wild cards as a former Grand Slam champion.