“Tennis. Sorry.”: Danielle Collins reiterates her first love despite pickleball’s recent upsurge

America’s Danielle Collins has stated that she would always prefer tennis over pickleball despite love playing the latter version of the sport. Tennis, as a sport, is going through a evolution phase where newer versions have started to take the centre stage.

In recent years, pickleball and padel have gained significant attention from sports enthusiasts worldwide. A few of the players who retired from professional tennis started playing in padel and pickleball events as well. America’s Collins is one of the players who announced in 2024 that she would retire from the sport at the end of the season.

That plan, however, changed dramatically after Collins managed to register some incredible wins. In 2025, Collins' performances have not remained the same, largely due to fitness concerns, which forced her to end the season prematurely. Collins recently appeared on a podcast on the Pickleballdotcom channel on YouTube, where she was asked about her preferred sport. In response to that, Collins was quick to name tennis.

“Tennis. Sorry,” said Collins. “I mean, I love pickleball. I do. But tennis is still my passion. You know, I've been doing this since I was three years old. And it's always going to be something that it's like my first love. So I have a soft spot in my heart for the tennis. But I do love pickleball too.”

Collins was asked whether there are chances of her changing her point of view about her love for Pickleball over tennis. In response to that, Collins stated that only time will tell if her point of view will change about that. “Yeah. Maybe in a few years it'll change. But we'll see,” said Collins. “We'll see how good I am. We'll see how good I can get.”

Collins was asked about how she viewed Pickleball at the beginning and whether it was hard for her to feel connected to the newer version of the sport. In response, Collins stated that she took a while to feel connected to Pickleball, but also highlighted that she is not the only professional tennis player who has gone through a similar experience.

“I definitely think I was a little discerning at first, but I tend to have that personality trait,” said Collins. “And it takes me a while to kind of fully get on board with something before saying yes, usually. And, you know, I think there's a lot of tennis purists that haven't, they just haven't really given pickleball a chance, or they haven't gotten to experience it themselves, because they're going to it with a judgmental mindset. But really, they're just hurting themselves. They're just missing out because pickleball is a lot of fun. I love the personalities that we see out on the pickleball courts.”

Collins also highlighted one major positive aspect of playing Pickleball, namely its accessibility to the general public, allowing them to come and enjoy the sport. Collins stated that it is not something everyone can do when it comes to tennis, where access to courts is far more difficult.

“I love the competitive spirit,” said Collins. “I love how it's embraced amongst the pickleball culture and people. And I think, yeah, I mean, it's just, it's also a sport that you can kind of pick up and play with anyone. I think, you know, it's safe to say with tennis, it's a little bit harder to go out and always play with all of your friends. But I think pickleball is something that's accessible to a lot of people. And it kind of brings people together in a different way. And I have a lot of fun playing pickleball. So once I gave it a try, I was sold.”