ROME — Asked Sunday if she believed, as the oddsmakers do, that she is the French Open favorite, Simona Halep dissented.
“No, no,” she said. “In this moment, no.”
Who is, then?
“About 15 players,” she said, smiling.
The sixth-seeded Halep of Romania had just lost the Italian Open final to the eighth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, 6-4, 5-7, 1-6, the latest in a series of results in women’s tennis this year that have sown uncertainty about who can be relied upon to contend for the biggest titles.
Halep, who won earlier this month in Madrid and reached the Stuttgart semifinals, has been the most common answer in recent weeks, even if said with minimal confidence.