MIAMI GARDENS, FL — Daniel Collins wants to make one thing perfectly clear. She is seriously thinking about quitting tennis.
Really.
The passionate 30-year-old Floridian, who reached the quarterfinals of the Miami Open, his closest home tournament on the tennis tour, is listening to everyone who has questions.
2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens, who has known and played against Collins since she was a child, said this was the end of the year for Collins after a heartbreaking three-set loss to Iga Swiatek in Australia in January. He blurted out at first, but chalked it up to frustration after the loss. . Coach Jared Jacobs, who has been in the Collins box for the past two Grand Slam tournaments, still doesn't fully believe he will.
“Let's take a look,” he says.
Other friends on the tour shrug and approach, asking, “What do you think?”why? ” — Partly because they know she's much better than them, health permitting.
None of that matters. Not the terror she inflicted on world number one Swiatek in Melbourne. It's not her second quarterfinal appearance this year in a tournament just short of Grand Slam level, nor the money she has left over for her future prize money or sponsorships. It was all great, but she's already done, or at least will be at the end of the season.
“I've been doing this for a while,” she says, but relatively speaking not yet. She has only played two seasons longer professionally than Coco Gauff, who is 10 years younger than her.
anything. It certainly feels like it's been a while, and she has other goals, things to accomplish besides traveling the world, living outside of hotel rooms, and clinging to vague trajectories. That being said, there are other ways I would like to spend my time. Whether she'll be able to take the court the next day because of the yellow ball and her rheumatoid arthritis. She wants to start her family sooner or later.
Collins, a 2022 Australian Open finalist, said: “I love what I've done, the opportunity and the doors it's opened, but it's not easy and I'm a homebody. ” he says. I like to water the plants, walk the dog, go get coffee in the morning, and make sure my bed is made. I buy special laundry detergent and keep small beauty products in my cabinet. And even if you have to stay at home all day every day, you'll never get bored. I like reading my books. It doesn't take much to make me happy. ”
Surfing and yoga can help. More is on the way.
Now, perhaps this means that it would be a terrible idea for Collins' future opponents, such as Wednesday's opponent, Caroline Garcia (France), to mistake this for a lack of competitiveness at this point or in the remaining matches. This would be a good opportunity to point this out. seasonal. She still dominates her opponents with a ruthless take on the ball, especially on her backhand, and a gas pedal-to-the-floor style.
When Katie Volinets served in a match in Austin, Texas, last month, she couldn't get a set or break down. The arthritis in her back was so severe that she couldn't arch backwards on her serve, so she had to make sure to toss the ball forward.
it doesn't matter. She came from behind in the second set tie-break and won the third set 6-0, and just when it looked like she was fading away, she was already in the gray cold, and from the pain, the adrenaline hit. and win.
“When a power player is enraged, there's not much you can do about it,” Christo van Rensburg, Austin's tournament director, said of Collins that day.
On Monday, Collins defeated Romania's Sorana Cirstea 6-3, 6-2 in the Round of 16 in the intimate Butch Buchholz Family Courtroom at Hard Rock Stadium in 89 minutes. A crowd of raucous Romanian fans sat courtside, cheering on Cirstea and getting Collins excited until late in the afternoon.
When Collins scored the final point in a hard-fought but ultimately lopsided victory, he put his finger to his lips to silence him as he walked toward the net for a handshake. She grabbed her bag and left the stadium alone to spend the rest of the night. Her box was empty. Her parents are not there. There is no coach. She is flying alone. Even though this is probably her last home state meet and her farewell season, keeping things simple is a good thing for other players looking to grab a little bit of glory in their final campaign (Rafael He is certainly doing much better at the moment than Nadal (Andy Murray).
It's the kind of dynamic that has always existed in the Collins family. Tennis is something she does, not who she is. She claims her parents would be just as proud of her if she worked behind the cash register.
Her mother was a kindergarten teacher and her father had a small landscaping business. Her father, who cut grass for a living until he retired last year at the age of 84, would get up before her school to hit balls with her and invite her friends to play at a local court in St. Petersburg, Florida. I was asked to play against her.
But her family couldn't afford to hire the best coach or take her on trips around the country, let alone overseas, when she was a teenager. Tennis was her education and she practiced it, graduating from the University of Virginia as a two-time NCAA champion.
When she told her parents about the opportunity to go professional, they encouraged her to pursue a graduate degree instead. Although she has won more than $7 million in prize money to date, she has never felt like she was playing for anyone but herself.
What are their reactions to her retirement plans? Great, they want grandchildren.
“They're probably like, 'It's about to be a tough time,'” she says.
If she wasn't a tennis player, she probably would have done it sooner for reasons of desire and health. After years of doctors largely ignoring her complaints of heavy and painful periods, she was finally diagnosed with endometriosis, a disease in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus. , I found a doctor who would listen and give me an accurate diagnosis.
After undergoing surgery to remove the tissue, doctors told her that getting pregnant might help control her symptoms, but that didn't do much for her career and she continued playing. She won't have to worry about that after October.
She is still planning the trip and has already left. After losing at the Australian Open, she and her boyfriend went hiking among Tasmania's giant swamp gum trees. It's not as big as Sequoia, but it's not far off. She is planning her trip to South Africa in December.
Will she miss tennis?
perhaps? She's the type of pro who enjoys the feel of the string on the ball against weekend warriors, but she also envies the baseball, basketball and football players who travel on private or chartered jets and spend their home games and long offseasons. ing. She wishes there was a home game. She doesn't, even though there are tennis courts at her home and further down the street.
“If the format of tennis had been different, it would have been a completely different story and I would probably reconsider,” she said of her impending retirement. “But the mechanics of this sport are very difficult.”
(Top photo: Frey/TPN/Getty Images)