Danielle Collins reveals when she actually decided she would retire from tennis

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Danielle Collins revealed when she knew her career would be coming to an end.

The 30-year-old announced she would be retiring from tennis after losing to Iga Swiatek at the Australian Open in January.

Since March she has been in electrifying form which has produced two titles and a run of 23 wins in 26 matches.

Given her level of play, many are surprised the World number 10 is choosing to step away from the sport.

Collins reveals when she knew her career was coming to an end

It has been well documented that Collins is choosing to hang up her racket at the end of the season to boost her chances of starting a family.

Furthermore, she is battling rheumatoid arthritis and endometriosis, and the latter can cause infertility by blocking fallopian tubes or impacting egg quality.

With the possibility of suffering the same condition, Collins took measures to ensure she can fulfil her dream of becoming a mother.

But in her BBC Sport column, Collins explained that retirement was on the cards long before her announcement at the beginning of the year. “It had been on the cards for a while,” the American said.

“I even told my boyfriend when I met him at Wimbledon last year that I was going to be retiring in the next year or two. I had not known him very long and I said “right now this is my life, but it won’t be my life forever”.

“A lot of my friends and family already knew my thoughts and knew I wasn’t going to be someone that had a long-lived career.”

Who does Danielle Collins play at the French Open?

Collins began her final French Open with a victory over her fellow American Caroline Dolehide. She claimed a 6-3, 6-4 win and progressed to round two where she will play Serbia’s Olga Danilović.

This threatens to be a tricky contest for Collins, if the pair’s first meeting in Madrid is anything to go by.

In one of the American number three’s toughest matches of the season, she came from behind to claim a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(8) win in the Spanish capital.

The 23-year-old came through the qualifiers and defeated Martina Trevisan in round two to secure a rematch with Collins a month after their Madrid epic.