USA Star Danielle Collins Announces 2024 Is Her Last Year, Cherish The Memories
FCI Staff Writer Sacramento 
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February 27, 2024,
You hope it isn’t true.
There is still a lot season left to go.
She may change her mind.
Is American super star Danielle Collins really retiring?
On January 18, 2024, as reported by the global news source CNN, “Moments after losing to Iga Swiatek in a three-set thriller that lasted over three hours in the second round of the Australian Open on Thursday, American Danielle Collins announced that the 2024 season would be her final year on the WTA Tour.”
At only 30 years old?
That appears to be a little early.
For confirmation the WTA added, “Danielle Collins discussed her choice to retire from professional tennis at the end of this season, expressing her desire to return to a ‘normal life’ away from the constant travel and public attention.”
Interesting.
Some players thrive on and absolutely appear to love the spotlight.
Apparently Danielle is not one of them.
Time for some background.
Danielle reached career-high WTA rankings of No. 7 in singles and No. 79 in doubles.
She won two WTA Tour singles titles, at the 2021 Palermo Open and the 2021 Silicon Valley Classic, and one WTA Tour doubles title at the 2023 Charleston Open with Desirae Krawczyk.
She reached her first major singles final at the 2022 Australian Open.
Interestingly, that final match was against Australia’s champion Ashleigh Barty, who at 25, decided to retire early as well, even though she was ranked number one.
Who said life isn’t full of surprises.
Ashleigh did make that stick, as for now, she has moved on to motherhood and is living a normal life.
Danielle did not enter the professional tennis tour in the often typical fashion.
The American star played collegiate tennis at the University of Virginia and won the NCAA singles title twice, during her sophomore and senior years in 2014 and 2016.
Unbelievably hard to do and incredibly impressive.
She finished her career in Virginia as the top-ranked collegiate player.
Having first established herself on the WTA Tour when she reached the semifinals of the 2018 Miami Open as a qualifier, her breakthrough came at the 2019 Australian Open where she advanced to the semifinals, defeating the then world No. 2 Angelique Kerber.
She certainly paid her dues before turning pro.
Danielle played one season of college tennis for the Florida Gators, going 24–8 in singles.
She then transferred to the University of Virginia, an Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) school.
Danielle had a stellar career with the Virginia Cavaliers, with a cumulative record of 101–20.
Looking back on those 20 loses, we wonder where some of those players are now. For so many, college would be the highlight of their tennis careers.
Named to the All-ACC first team in all three seasons, Danielle helped Virginia win consecutive ACC Championships in 2014 and 2015.
At the NCAA Championships, she became the first Cavalier to the win the singles title in 2014 and became the seventh two-time champion in 2016.
Drum roll.
She finished her college career in 2016 as the nation’s top-ranked player and received the Honda Sports Award for tennis.
That is one incredible tennis resume.
Are you ready for more? Here stellar resume continues.
Danielle graduated from Virginia with a bachelor’s degree in media studies and business.
She returned to the University of Florida for graduate school to earn a master’s degree in sports management in a program partnering with the WTA.
In terms of the pros, Daniela made her WTA Tour main-draw debut as a wildcard player at the 2014 US Open in Arthur Ashe Stadium, where she forced second seed Simona Halep to a third-setter in the first round.
How time flies.
Simona Halep, once so prominent, has gone silent.
What has propelled Danielle to greatness is her powerful relentless playing style.
She employs a highly aggressive playing style that has been described as “fearless”, “ferocious” and “fun to watch”.
As you might expect, Danielle has a powerful serve, and strong groundstrokes on both wings, making her one of the hardest hitters on the WTA Tour.
Her style allows her to hit a high number of winners.
Her greatest strengths are her kick serve, her inside-out forehand, and her versatile and strong backhand.
Very important, no doubt a holdover from her college days, her double-handed backhand is typically stronger than her forehand. She also possesses strong volleying skills, allowing her to place pressure on her opponents to hit high risk passing shots.
Retiring or not, Danielle continues to make waves on the tennis courts.
On February 6, 2024, tennis.com posted, “The 2022 Australian Open finalist came through qualifying at the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open before drawing four-time major winner Naomi Osaka. Collins would go on to win the final nine games in handing the former world No. 1 her third successive defeat following a 7-5, 6-0 victory.”
Very powerful.
There are a lot of comeback tours out there, Naomi Osaka being one of them after taking some time off to have a family.
As Danielle ends her career, she is absolutely blazing a trail. The informative team at essentiallysports.com shared, “The action-packed madness is set to resume yet again, this time in Austin, Texas as some of the best names in the tennis world will be going head-to-head against each other in a highly anticipated tournament. The WTA ATX Open, which will be starting on the 26th of February will feature some of the best names in the nation like Danielle Collins, Sloane Stephens, and Peyton Stearns in action.”
Good for Danielle.
Based upon our research, part of what may have contributed to Danielle’s retirement decision is that she suffers from rheumatoid arthritis which is an inflammatory and autoimmune disease with no cure.
We wish her the best on that.
So for now, we watch and wait.
This year’s 2024 US Open, the final major Grand Slam of the year, should be a very emotional one for Danielle and the American fans. Possibly the last time they’ll see her work her energy at a major.
The memories certainly have been masterful.
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OPENING PHOTO lev-radin-Shutterstock-photo-credit-Editorial-use fcielitecompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling2.com, femcompetitor.com, grapplingstars.com fcielitecompetitor.com
https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/39333937/danielle-collins-says-2024-season-last-wta-tour
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danielle_Collins
https://www.fciwomenswrestling2.com
https://www.fcielitecompetitor.com/
https://fciwomenswrestling.com/
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