"So many people have been saying 'You're retiring already', I'm like well I am 30": Danielle Collins ready for next chapter at final Indian Wells

In what was seen by some as potentially a flippant reaction after losing to Iga Swiatek from a winning position at the 2024 Australian Open, Danielle Collins confirmed that this wasn't the case and she would be retiring at the end of the 2024 season. As a result in particular in the States, it is a final everything with a last Indian Wells Open first up.

Collins spoke before her match with Erika Andreeva at Indian Wells which rain delay return pending, she was easing through to seal the win and is only one game away from doing so. But she said that many have actually been shocked that she is retiring, in her mind though her tennis career feels like an eternity coming to an end.

"Man, as much as I love it, I sure hope so, because I'm ready for my next chapter. It’s been a good run for me, but I've had other things that I want to accomplish. And it's funny, so many people have been saying, "You're retiring already?" And I'm like, "Well, I am 30." So I take it as a compliment that everybody's like, "Oh my God, you're 30." I guess it's just because I haven't been on tour that long since I went the college route, but in some ways, it seems like an eternity," she said to Tennis.com.

But despite harbouring ambitions to start a family, Collins hinted that she is unlikely to follow the same path in terms of returning to tennis afterwards and that there are more aspects of her life that she wants to utilise. But that starting a family is her number one goal when she says goodbye.

"I think it's great, because we're seeing so many more women play later in their career, and we're also seeing people come back after they start families, and all of that has been super inspiring to me. But I think with everything that I've done in my career and where I'm at physically, mentally, it's just time for me to move on to the next chapter, and I'm excited about that.
"I've worked really hard at this. Tennis has been a really big part of my life. It's been the most important part of my life for a very long time, and I think I've done a good job at trying to balance it. I've had seasons where I don't play full schedules and I had seasons where I have played full schedules. And it doesn't mean that that's not difficult, finding that balance with all the travel that we do and not having a lot of normalcy in our day-to-day life, because we do have such a unique lifestyle.
"I think having gone to college and learning about other interests and things that I'm passionate about made the decision a little more easier, because I've always had the mentality of, if I don't want to do this, I don't have to do this. I can do something else. And I feel pretty confident with my abilities, aside from the tennis court, that I can be a successful person in different capacities if that's what I want to do. So the decision was pretty easy for me, to be honest, especially with wanting to have kids and start a family."

But also for Collins, it served as a springboard in 2018 where she said she averted having to go to law school. "I ended up having a good win over Madison Keys and going on to do well in the 1000, so it was an exciting time. I was thinking in my head that year, if I didn't make it into the Top 100, I'd be going to law school, so I was thrilled that I wasn't going to be going into debt quite yet. It was the opposite."

Now perspective changes given it is her last year and in her mind, it is a what will be, will be approach on multiple angles whether that is off court as well as allowing herself to be busy to dodge the distractions of wanting to share her life on social media. "Well, it's great we started off with a photo shoot and photo op this morning. I feel like, unfortunately, I haven't done a great job of taking a lot of pictures when I go to events because I'm so caught up in my day-to-day and very busy. One of my weaknesses, especially with social media, I'm not like, "Oh, this will look great for Instagram. Let me take this shot." I've been trying to work at that, but that's just something that doesn't come naturally, so trying to take more pictures and capture the moment.
"And my goals have changed since this is my last year, and so I have a different mentality and feeling. It makes it a little bit easier from previous years where I'm like, "I got to do this, this, this, and this," and everything's got to be a certain way. I feel like in the last two years, I've become pretty relaxed as my approach. And if I win, great. If I don't, whatever."