Article by Daniel Grigore – Published Saturday, June 13, 2026, 3:02 p.m. / Updated Saturday, June 13, 2026, 3:05 p.m.
Simona Halep (34 years old), double Grand Slam winner and former world number 1, announced her retirement from tennis in February 2025, but only today, 16 months later, she is part of the retirement event, a demonstration match in which Elina Svitolina, Gael Monfils and Andrei Pavel will also play.
Ianis and Gică Hagi arrived in Cluj-Napoca for Simona Halep's retirement match
Among others, on this special day he will be joined by Romania's national coach, Gică Hagi, and his son, Ianis, active footballer. The two families are close.
Senior and junior Hagi arrived this afternoon in Cluj-Napoca. As can be seen in the clip published on the page of the festival hosting Halep's retreat, they were picked up by a car provided by the organizer and dropped off near the Radisson Blu hotel.
On the way down, Gică Hagi greeted Andreea Esca, then he was greeted by the director of the festival, Patrick Ciorcilă. On the way to the hotel, Gică and Ianis signed autographs and took photos with those who wanted to keep a memory.
He didn't want to go to the World Championship: “If we qualified, I would go too”
The selector of the first representative football team participates in the retirement event of Simona Halep in the context in which chose not to go to North America to attend the World Cup matches.
He thus justified his decision:
“If we qualified, I would also go to America. That's how I don't want to go. I stay at home, I'm with the players, I suffer like all Romanians, because we all suffer because we didn't qualify. Romania loves football. However, we must give it this joy, seek success, be positive.”
Gică Hagi, in 2025, after the retirement of Simona Halep: “A great athlete!”
In February 2025, immediately after the announcement of Simona Halep's retirement, Gică Hagi spoke with superlatives about the double Grand Slam winner:
“Simo… A great athlete, I'm glad she's from Constanța. This moment is also coming, which is hard, it's not easy to say you can no longer train, play, but it's coming.
You have to ask her what she wants to do next. Ideally there would be two very large Tennis Academies, one for girls and one for boys, producing players.
In all disciplines, Romania has demonstrated that it is good. It's important to build, we probably need this in tennis as well”.
