MELBOURNE, Australia — Together with her own form of perpetual motion, Danielle Collins transitioned swiftly from an Australian Open loss to the world’s top-ranked player to announcing this is able to be her last season on the skilled tennis tour.
While Iga Swiatek was still doing an post-match, on-court TV interview, the 30-year-old American entered a small interview room.
“That is going to be my last season, actually, competing,” she said soon after. “I don’t really know exactly when, but this will likely be my last season and I’m really looking forward to that.”
The 2022 Australian Open runner-up had just lost five straight games to give up a 4-1 third-set lead against Swiatek, eventually taking place 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in a 3-hour, 14-minute match on Rod Laver Arena.
The conversational shift from the current to the longer term happened quickly, in response to the query: Are all losses created equal?
“At this point, I’m form of at the tip of my profession they usually don’t sting quite as much, to be honest,” she said. “I even have form of gotten to the purpose where obviously they matter and my profession means rather a lot to me, but at the tip of the day you either win otherwise you lose, and that’s all there may be to it.”
Collins beat Swiatek within the semifinals here two years ago before losing the ultimate to Australia’s Ash Barty. That continues to be here major milestone.
Since then, Collins hasn’t gone past the fourth round at a serious. Barty has retired and had a baby.
The second-round encounter against Swiatek followed Collins’ first-round win over 2016 Australian Open winner Angelique Kerber, a three-time major winner. Swiatek was coming off a win over 2020 champion Sofia Kenin. Tough bracket.
“Yeah, I lost 6-4 within the third to the most effective players on this planet, and she or he played some great tennis,” Collins said, assessing her match. I “left all of it on the court.”
Swiatek was surprised by Collins’ announcement.
“We played so many tight matches. They were hard, so I don’t know if I’m going to miss that!” she said, smiling. “Needless to say she showed great tennis, really great passion and determination. I do know she’s not done yet, but needless to say I’m going to congratulate her for her whole profession.”
Collins didn’t have a traditional path to the elite tennis tour, playing collegiate tennis on the University of Virginia and wining NCAA singles titles in 2014 and 2016.
Until her breakthrough run to the Australian Open semifinals in 2019, Collins had never won a match at a serious — a run that included first-round exits on the U.S. Open in 2014, ‘16 and ’18 and the French Open and Wimbledon in 2018.
At Melbourne Park that 12 months, though, she beat then No. 2-ranked Kerber within the fourth round on a run that took out three seeded players. She also reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros in 2020 and second week within the U.S. Open in 2022.
Collins said with the ups-and-downs of being on tour and all of the travel, “that is it is a really tough sport.”
“I even have other things that I’d form of wish to accomplish in my life outside of tennis, and would really like to have the option to do this,” she said. “Obviously having kids is an enormous priority for me.”
