Danielle Collins is among the WTA stars in Riyadh this week for the WTA Finals, but the American is only an alternate.
Collins was set to retire at the end of the season, with the American having been ready to call time on her illustrious career.
But Collins has reversed her retirement decision, and is now preparing for another season on the WTA Tour.
The four-time WTA champion has enjoyed huge success this year, winning two titles at the Miami Open and Charleston Open.
Collins has been ‘dealing with endometriosis and fertility’, but has risen all the way to world number 10 thanks to her fantastic displays.
Danielle Collins says when she was told about WTA Finals alternate role
The performances have also resulted in Collins being named an alternate for the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia.
She has now revealed when she was told about the call-up, with Collins telling Sky Sports Tennis: “It’s just been a kind of a whirlwind these last couple of weeks, and then to get the call too that I got to be an alternate here was obviously very exciting, but I only had like a day to get here, so I literally was working on a bunch of stuff on my house in Florida after the hurricane.
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“Obviously of ton of stress there, just trying to get everything sorted and then with the doctor’s appointments. Luckily I finished up my last doctor’s appointment right before I came here, like the day before.
“It took me 28 hours, I think, to get here. I had a 10-hour layover in Dubai, and so the first day I felt like I was just on a totally different planet with the time zone. My body was so confused, and I haven’t traveled for a few weeks too.”
Asked how late she found out, Collins responded: “Oh it was pretty late. I think I found out on Tuesday night.”
Danielle Collins explains what being WTA Finals alternate means
Collins will no doubt be taking in the tennis this week, where her compatriots Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula are in action.
Gauff has already secured a semi-final place in Riyadh, with Pegula already out of contention after two defeats.
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One of those arrived against the in-form Gauff, with the other coming against Barbora Krejcikova, while she has Iga Swiatek still to play.
Collins also detailed what it means exactly to be an alternate at the WTA Finals, saying: “Yeah you have to be ready to go because if someone was to get injured, I mean God forbid, I would not want to see any of these players get injured or get sick, especially at this point in the season, everyone’s worked so hard to get here, but if something like that happened I would need to be ready to play.”
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