Former finalist Danielle Collins has unexpectedly confirmed that she will be retiring from tennis this year after being on the brink of pulling off a major upset at the Australian Open.
The world No.62 was leading top seed Iga Swiatek 4-1 in the final set before losing 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, after almost three hours of play. Collins is the first player to take Swiatek to three sets during the opening three rounds of a Grand Slam since Anett Kontaveit at the 2021 US Open. Whilst it is a case of what could have been, she is looking on the positive side of her defeat.
“I lost 6-4 in the third to one of the best players in the world, and she played some great tennis. Left it all on the court.” She said.
“I think she’s a big hitter. Her game and her career speaks for itself. I think we all know what to expect against Iga. I had to try to counter that as much as I could, I did that well at many moments.”
Collins, who turned 30 last month, has confirmed that her latest appearance at Melbourne Park will be the last of her career. During her press conference, she took reporters by surprise by confirming that she intends to hang up her racket at some stage this year but she is yet to finalise her plans.
“I feel like I’ve had a pretty good career. There has certainly been ups and downs to it, and I think the travel and some of the things away from the court with scheduling and all of that, this is a really tough sport.” She explained.
“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 be able to have the time to be able to do that. Having kids is a big priority for me.”
The American has been ranked as high as seventh in the world with her best grand Slam run being to the final of the 2022 Australian Open. She has won two WTA titles and earned more than $6.7M in prize money so far in her career.
Meanwhile, Swiatek has hailed her rival following their marathon clash. She has now won 13 out of 14 matches against American players at major events.
“I didn’t feel like I had control over this match. I wanted to fight till the end.” Swiatek said during her press conference.
“I knew that it’s hard for anybody to keep that level that Danielle showed in the second set and at the beginning of the third.’
“I just wanted to be ready whenever I had a chance to come back and, just play a little bit more because there weren’t many rallies. She was really aggressive. I wanted to do the same. In the second set for sure she showed better quality.’
“I’m happy that I was solid and I just believed till the end.”
Swiatek will play Linda Noskova in the third round.
