Romania’s tennis ace Simona Halep announced that she started training with Belgian coach Thierry Van Cleemput, who came to Romania last week.

“It was very good, I trained well, we started the collaboration and we will work together. I hope everything will go well. Of course, it is something new, something different, it will not be easy, but I trust everything will be fine," Halep said on Monday, February 4, before leaving for Ostrava for the Czech Republic - Romania match in the Fed Cup, according to local News.ro.

She said the Belgian coach's personality and way of training are a little different but she hopes things will work out.

Thierry Van Cleemput arrived in Bucharest on January 28 to discuss with Simona Halep about a possible collaboration. Halep began the new season without a coach after ending the collaboration with Darren Cahill, who announced he would take one year off to spend more time with his family.

In the past, Thierry Van Cleemput coached Olivier Rochus and Steve Darcis, and was Belgium’s Davis Cup Team Assistant Captain from 2002 to 2005. He also worked with David Goffin for about five years but their collaboration ended earlier this year.

Simona Halep dropped to third in the WTA singles ranking after this year's Australian Open, where she stopped in the round of 16.

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