The year is 2018. The American Danielle Collins, who was still little known at the time, is the first qualifier in the tournament’s 30-year history to reach the semifinals of the Miami Open. This brilliant feat marked the breakthrough of the US college player, who only took the step onto the WTA tour at the age of 22. Six years later, the now 30-year-old is now back in the round of the last four in the sunny state, where she will face the Russian Yekaterina Alexandrova today. What has changed for her since 2018? “I’m older, wiser and definitely have a better outfit than I did back then,” jokes the 2022 Australian Open finalist.
In 2018, Collins was still full of the urge to succeed and wanted to take the tennis world by storm like all of her colleagues. This year, the tennis ace from Saint Petersburg, who was ranked seventh in the world rankings in July 2022, is on her farewell tour, having announced at the beginning of the season that she would give up her career at the end of 2024. This means that a pioneer in women’s sports will leave the big stage.
Rheumatoide Arthritis
After the final in Melbourne, Collins went public with physical problems and talked about taboos surrounding illnesses among athletes. In 2018, the American received her first devastating diagnosis: rheumatoid arthritis – an autoimmune disease that explained her constant joint pain and swelling. Since then, she has only been able to control the disease with strong medication and a strict diet.
The next setback came in 2019. Collins had been struggling with severe pain during her period since she graduated from college in 2016. She collapsed on the court during training at a preparation tournament for the Australian Open due to extreme pain. The diagnosis that the two-time tournament winner made public in 2021: endometriosis. A disease that affects around one in ten women, but has only been increasingly discussed in professional sports since last year (the cause was Mikaela Shiffrin). This involves above-average, severe and long-lasting pain during menstruation.
No more drastic changes
After surgery to remove a tennis ball-sized cyst in her uterus, Collins’ health began to improve. “Before my surgery and before I was on my proper medication, I always had to adjust my workouts around the cycle because my periods were so painful. “Now I can train more permanently and no longer have to make drastic changes,” explained Collins in 2021, making her the first top athlete to speak so extensively and publicly about this topic.
However, her physical problems are not said to have influenced the decision to resign. “I had a pretty good career. But now I want to focus on other life goals, especially starting a family.”
2024-03-28 23:30:00
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