American tennis star Danielle Collins is into the last 64 of the French Open but has been left confused by one notion that the media keeps making.
Collins defeated compatriot Caroline Dolehide 6-3, 6-4 to set up a date with Olga Danilovic tomorrow.
The 30-year-old announced earlier this year that 2024 would be her last one as a professional tennis player.
After her latest win, Collins has declared that she’s been left a little bit perplexed by something that keeps getting said about her by the media.
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Danielle Collins shares what is confusing her at the moment
Given her age, it’s perhaps a little premature that Collins is retiring, especially given the quality she continues to showcase.
Collins reached a Grand Slam final in 2022 at the Australian Open and she has knocked on the door of winning a big title.
At Roland Garros, she’s never been beyond the quarter-final and the American will be hoping to change that this time around.
After announcing her retirement, Collins has enjoyed an upturn in fortunes but in her mind nothing has changed and the hard work is continuing.
She told The Tennis Letter: “I don’t think so. I feel like there has been a lot of conversation around, ‘Oh you’ve announced your retirement so perhaps you’re playing more free’, but I don’t really know what that means as a 30-year-old woman who has a lot of freedom in her life. I’m a little bit confused by that.
“I feel like I do have a great amount of confidence on the court and I’m figuring things out technically and tactically. A lot of the success of recent weeks and months is because things have clicked on the back of that work and it’s a bit of a process.
“I think people forget that I was late to the party in terms of turning professional and I’ve only been on tour for like six or seven years. It takes time.”
Collins can go deep at Roland Garros
As it’s her last year on the tour, she would dearly love to get to the business end of the major tournaments.
Here it does feel like a big opportunity for Collins if she can keep maintaining her current form.
Collins is due to meet the fifth-seed Marketa Vondrousova in the quarter-final if both players progress that far.
We believe that the comments she has made are pretty accurate and the media perception must be a little bit annoying.
Collins was a late bloomer as a professional but she’s a master of her craft and with lots of hard work she has now kicked on.
It’s a shame that she’s calling time on her career at the end of the year but that won’t stop her from causing problems for the top players in the meantime.
Collins played well in her first match and reaching the quarters has to be the minimum requirement for her this time around.
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