Former World Number 23, Danielle Collins, put up a spectacular show in Paris against the 11th seed, Garbine Muguruza. Collins was two breaks down in the final set; however, with her unprecedented fighting spirit, she gained an unexpected victory.

Before coming into the tournament, Collins made a huge change in her team by joining hands with former tennis player, Nicolas Almagro. Interestingly, they established their league through Serena Williams’ coach, Patrick Mouratoglou.

“We had reached out, my team had reached out to Patrick Mouratoglou, and he set us up with Nico [Almagro].  It’s been awesome. I think this might be the first time I have worked with a coach that has been a top-10 player. I think that’s a really important thing because he knows what it takes to be at that level,” she stated.

At the beginning of the year, Danielle Collins was working with Jay Gooding and Chip Brooks; however, she did not have a full-time coach.

Danielle Collins on the relationship with Nicolas Almagro

“The men’s game is definitely different than the women’s game, but I think he understands what I’m going through as a competitor. And he has also played on tour for 15-plus years. So he’s seen a lot of these women that I’m competing against play over the years,” Collins said of Almagro.

Former World Number nine, Almagro retired from professional tennis in the year 2019 and concluded his career in his home country of Spain.

Collins will now take on No.30 seed Ons Jabeur in the fourth round after the Tunisian stunned eighth seed Aryna Sabalenka 7-6(7), 2-6, 6-3.

“I’m going to have to sit down with [my new coach] Nico and I’m sure he’s going to have some great advice for me moving forward,” she reflected on her next matchup against Jabeur.

In the fourth round of French Open 2020, top seed Simona Halep and fifth seed Kiki Bertens faced shocking defeats against Iga Swiatek and Martina Trevisan, respectively.