Danielle Collins plans for 2024 to be her final season on the WTA Tour.
Her announcement Thursday came after she couldn’t close out World No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the third round of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
“Yeah, this is going to be my last season, actually, competing,” Collins told reporters. “I don’t really know exactly when, but this will be my last season and I’m really looking forward to that.
“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.”
Collins, 30, won NCAA singles titles while playing for Virginia in 2014 and 2016. She said she has dreams of accomplishing goals “outside of tennis,” including starting a family.
Collins led Swiatek by a double-break at 4-1 in the third set before Swiatek shifted the momentum and rolled off the next five games to win 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.
“I lost 6-4 in the third to one of the best players in the world, and she played some great tennis,” Collins said. “Left it all on the court.”
Collins, currently ranked No. 62, reached No. 7 in the world in July 2022.
Her two career tournament wins came in back-to-back events in 2021 in Palermo, Italy, and San Jose. She played in one grand slam final, losing to then-No. 1 Ashleigh Barty in the 2022 Australian Open.
“At this point, I’m kind of at the end of my career and [losses] don’t sting quite as much, to be honest,” Collins said. “I feel like I have kind of gotten to the point where obviously they matter and my career means a lot to me, but at the end of the day, you either win or you lose, and that’s all there is to it.”
–Field Level Media