Winner of the Miami Open 2024, Danielle Collins has been a dominant presence this year. A feat that is as rare as her being only the second unseeded woman and the lowest-ranked player ever to do it. Differing from most tennis colleagues who went pro early, Collins is a University of Virginia alum. But contrary to what one might expect, the American WTA star’s educational background has become a matter of mortification rather than pride more than once.

A late bloomer, Collins is just the 6th American woman ever to have won the Miami Open. Although she has given American tennis fans a reason to rejoice, she recently admitted that doing things her way and choosing to start late as a pro earned her some pointed comments.

Danielle Collins had to ‘justify what I was doing and the path that I took’

Featuring on the WTA Insider Podcast, Collins candidly opened up about her decision to attend college and how it turned out to be a reason for her humiliation by senior players, “I had former players who were much older than me come up to me and they go like, ‘wow! I was retiring at your age.’ Which was hard sometimes to justify what I was doing and the path that I took.”

She lists down two reasons for continuing with her college. First, hailing from a lower-middle-class family, financial conditions stopped her from playing bigger tournaments. Second, she considered it important to have the varied skills that education provides to have a solid foundation for life ahead—an approach followed in other sports as well, where athletes play at the collegiate level before turning pro.

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Respectfully justifying her senior’s reaction and not sounding peevish, Collins said, “Tennis is one of these sports where we so much rich tennis tradition and we have ways of doing things and so sometimes it’s hard to bring in like a new perspective or a new way of going about things.” What do they say about hating the game, not the player?

Winning her third career title, Collins let herself loose on the court. Animated throughout her 2 hour-long final against Elena Rybakina, she could be seen pumping the air with her fists and staring at the American flag in the crowd. According to people who have known her for a while, this strength comes from her off-court personality.

‘No one yells, ‘Come on!’ as loud as this girl’ – Danielle Collin’s college teammate

Unlike most tennis pros, Collins started her journey as a pro at 22 and played a lot of junior and collegiate-level tournaments before that. Her college teammate, Olivia Janowicz, said, “She had no fear, and I remember thinking to myself, ‘Wow, this girl has something that not many players have.” She added, “No one yells, ‘Come on!’ as loud as this girl.”

According to her former coach, Pat Harrison, in 2018, her game is similar to her personality, “It is refreshing to be around her,” he said. “She is brutally honest off the court, and that strength spills onto the court.”

However, with pounding fists and breaking records, the ferocious 30-year-old American has already announced this year as her last professional season, citing a serious medical condition as the reason. “I have some health challenges, and with those health challenges, it makes things for me away from the court a little more difficult. I hope everyone can respect that. It’s a very emotional and personal thing.”

“I’m living with a chronic inflammatory disease that affects your ability to get pregnant,” she revealed. And back in 2019, she also shared how she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Now even winning the Miami Open 2024 won’t push her to reconsider retirement.

‘Very Emotional and Personal Thing’- Danielle Collins Stays Firm in Retirement Decision Despite Major Miami Milestone