Pro Media & News

2021 US Open Series Interview: Danielle Collins

Victoria Chiesa | August 03, 2021


After a second round loss at Wimbledon, Danielle Collins took a gamble, one that she says has paid off in more ways than one as she heads into the US Open Series.

 

Rather than returning stateside to prepare for the hardcourt season, Collins extended her stay in Europe by three more weeks and competed at claycourt events in Hamburg, Germany; Budapest, Hungary and Palermo, Italy. She picked up nine wins in three events, including five in Sicily to claim her first WTA singles title.

 

It was a crowning moment for Collins on the surface where she reached her second career Grand Slam quarterfinal last October, after having been limited to just three matches in the traditional clay-court season this year following surgery to alleviate health complications of endometriosis. 

 

"I think my thought process was geared around the fact that I had a surgery that required me to take two months off and I missed half of my season. Ideally, I want to try to reach my goals, and in order to reach those goals, I need to have more match play and I need to be playing in tournaments," Collins told usta.com by phone on Sunday from her hotel in San Jose.

 

"I was really grateful that they had those tournaments after Wimbledon. I play well on the clay, I feel comfortable on the clay, but the main the main thing was to get more matches, to get the opportunity to gain more points and to hopefully improve my ranking. And that's exactly what I did.

 

"I think [winning Palermo] was especially rewarding since I've been doing so much on my own the last couple of months without having a coach or any type of assistance. I was really proud of myself for being able to commit to the process, do it on my own and to wake up and be motivated every day. Sometimes, when you win a tournament, you look at that week and you look at the matches, but I think it's a result of so much of the hard work that has gone into it months and years before that... I'm just really proud of myself for continuing to go after my dreams and to believe in myself."

 

Sidelined between the end of the Miami Open in March and the start of the French Open in May, Collins was open and candid about her struggles - "If I can ever be a friend to somebody and share my experience, hopefully that can offer them some knowledge or information that maybe they didn't know before," she said in Paris - and adds that she didn't fear the unknown headed into a life-changing medical procedure. 

 

"I think we've all experienced self-doubt at some point in our day-to day-lives or in our professional careers. I think that that's a very natural thing for for all of us humans, and none of us are immune to having bad days. But I do think that with the surgery, before the surgery, I was in so much physical agony, I figured that the only thing that was going to make the situation better was by having it, and that without it, I would potentially not be able to continue playing tennis," Collins said.

 

"I can't tell you how many times I had issues and complications with my menstrual cycle where it caused me to pull out of matches or caused an injury, and I had other things going on during that time. This got to the point where I was having to pull out of too many tournaments, too many matches. I think that in the last couple of months, especially, what was really rewarding was that I was finally able to play like three or four tournaments in a row. In Palermo, to win [five] matches and back-to-back days in a row, that would never have been able to happen before... because if I got my cycle, it was disastrous.

 

"I think going into the surgery, I wasn't too scared. I was actually pretty confident that what they were going to do was only going to help me. I was a little bit nervous being put under to sleep and stuff like that - I think everybody's a little bit nervous before surgery - but I was really confident that they were going to be able to fix a lot of the issues and havoc that was going on in my body and... that the surgery was going to help tremendously."

 

Back to world No. 36 in the rankings as the US Open Series begins for the women, Collins arrives this week at the WTA 500 event at San Jose State University as the No. 7 seed, and reached the semifinals back in 2018. That result was part of a breakthrough season, and 18-month surge, for the University of Virginia alumna which culminated in a career-high ranking of world No. 23 and a first Grand Slam semifinal berth at the 2019 Australian Open.

 

After a year without many chances to play at home in front of American fans, Collins hopes that a return to the hardcourts will help further propel her back to where she wants to be. She faces Shelby Rogers in Tuesday's first round in a draw that also features Madison Keys, Alison Riske and Sloane Stephens.

 

"I have great memories in San Jose from a couple of years ago, making the semifinals here. I'm hoping that I can make some more great memories here. It's a beautiful city. I always feel at home with the American fan base. It's a fun atmosphere to play in," Collins said. 

 

"Having fans is what makes being a professional athlete so special. Without the fans, it wouldn't be what being a professional athlete is, and to have people who are cheering you on, encouraging you, and then to also have the same for your opponents, it's something, as athletes, we only get to experience in our lives for a very short period of time. I think we're all grateful... to be able to have people supporting us and to have that atmosphere. That's what makes these Grand Slams and tournaments so special. It's not so much going out and competing, but it's the support that we get along the way."

 

"Shelby's a fierce competitor. She never gives up. She's a very solid baseliner, with a very aggressive game style," she continued. "So it will be interesting to see us play against each other because we both have such such big games. I think it'll be a fun match. I'm just preparing myself physically, getting some rest before the match and focusing on eating some great food here in San Jose. 

 

"One of the biggest goals for me is improving every day and to have a positive attitude on court, to believe in myself consistently. I have some some other outcome-oriented goals. I'd like to try to get back into the into the Top 20. I was [nearly] there before the pandemic and that's something that I'd like to get back to."

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