A few days ago, Danielle Collins dropped a truth bomb at the 2024 Australian Open. After facing a defeat in the second round against Iga Swiatek in round 2, the former World No. 7 announced, “This is going to be my last season actually, competing… I don’t really know exactly when, but this will be my last season and I’m really looking forward to that.” 

However, the biggest question is: what might be the reason that made her take the retirement decision? One of the major reasons that can come into consideration is her agony over endometriosis. In the past few years, while Danielle Collins has been one of the strong contenders for achieving a Grand Slam victory, she has also seen her scariest time while dealing with agonizing periods. The 30-year-old American tennis player from Florida underwent emergency surgery for her condition in April 2021 after facing endometriosis pain, that barely left her to compete and get back on the court.

Back in 2022, in an interview with the WTA, she stated, “I had so many doctors tell me that painful periods were normal. This progressively got worse and worse. The agony that I experienced from my menstrual cycles and from the endometriosis is some of the worst pain I’ve ever had. It was scary at times.” 

Although her retirement update might shock everyone in the tennis world, at the same time, it could be the aftermath of her struggles with endometriosis. It seems Collins has now reached a point where things are not quite the same for her as they were a few years ago.

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Danielle Collins overcoming endometriosis and breaking menstrual cycle stigma

Collins had been suffering from the medical condition since 2016 after graduating from college. Over time, her condition seemed to deteriorate but she was not diagnosed with the right issue. During the Roland Garros in 2021, Collins revealed that after many years the right diagnosis was made and she underwent surgery to treat endometriosis (a condition where tissue similar to the lining of the womb starts to grow in other places, such as the ovaries and fallopian tubes), where she had a cyst the size of a tennis ball removed.

Its presence in her body had been affecting her overall day-to-day life in a way that had caused too much physical agony, and that was negatively impacting her ability to perform consistently. She said “… And for me, things started to become too abnormal and really unhealthy, and it was causing a lot of havoc for me around that time… I consulted with my doctors and kind of had some misdiagnoses along the way.” 

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Another reason for her to go under the knife was her desire to start her own family soon. She has expressed, “Off the court, being able to start a family one day is one of my biggest goals. This operation is important for many reasons.” And she reiterated the same thing when she dropped the retirement bomb.

During the press conference, Collins stated, “I have other things that I’d kind of like to accomplish in my life outside of tennis, and would like to be able to kind of have the time to be able to do that. Obviously having kids is a big priority for me.”

Although Danielle Collins made a comeback and played the Australian Open women’s final in 2022, now, at the age of 30, she has made her priorities quite clear. However, her struggle with endometriosis pain might be one of the biggest reasons why she is taking a step back from her tennis career. Still, she now has been openly discussing destigmatizing any discussions around women’s menstrual cycles after overcoming endometriosis.

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