Achievements versus families: Danielle Collins explains her planned retirement

Although Danielle Collins has been playing some of the best tennis of her career this season, the American took some time to explain why she is still determined to hang up her tennis racket by the end of the year.

Collins began the 2024 season outside the top 50, but began a run that saw her capture her maiden WTA 1000 title in Miami this spring. She backed that win with a title at Charleston the following week, and has since risen to World No.10 in the rankings.

However, Collins had earlier announced she would be retiring after losing to World No.1 Iga Swiatek at the 2024 Australian Open at the start of the season. Although many fans believed this to be an emotional response to her devastating three-set loss, the 30-year old has insisted this will be the last year she competes on the WTA tour.

"I'm going to be 31 at the end of the year and one of my biggest goals outside of tennis is to have a family," said Collins in an interview with the BBC during Roland Garros. "Being able to have a family is challenging as a woman when your career depends on your body. It would be especially difficult to think about playing tennis while pregnant.
"Added to this, I deal with two chronic health conditions: rheumatoid arthritis and endometriosis which can affect fertility and your ability to have children. Some research estimates up to 30-50% of women with endometriosis experience infertility, and time isn't on my side either."

Furthermore, the Florida native stated while she loves playing tennis, a dream of hers has always been to start a family.

"I have a smaller window available to get pregnant and to make sure that hopefully happens," added Collins. "I'm also introverted and like to be at home mostly. I've loved my experience of being a professional tennis player and travelling the world.
"Tennis has given me the opportunity to have so many incredible experiences, many of which would not have been possible for me otherwise. But I'm ready for my next chapter."