Collins in her first Masters 1000 final: “I’m still learning a lot about myself”

It’s never too late to achieve great things. Just ask Danielle Collins, who is living out this adage in Miami. The American, who defeated Ekaterina Alexandrova in the semi-finals in Miami (6-3, 6-2), is in the final of a Masters 1000 for the first time in her career, at the age of 30.

Runner-up at a Grand Slam (Australian Open 2022), where she wowed all those watching, two years on Collins seems even more mature in her approach to tennis, and this is reflected in her game. She hasn’t lost a set since the start of the tournament, and has inflicted exactly the same score on her opponents since the Round of 16 (6-3, 6-2).

Long hampered by injuries and endometriosis, Collins gives the impression of being over all her problems. But it took time to make peace with her health and her game.

“I feel like you need time to get experience and you need time to learn about yourself, what works, what doesn’t work,” she said in a press conference after her semi-final win. “There are so many different areas: physical, mental, emotional. Obviously with the physical challenges and the health stuff, that has been something that I have dealt with the majority of my career, and it hasn’t been easy.

“But I have been able to figure out different ways to be able to work around it as best as I can. Doesn’t make the problems go away. Doesn’t always make the problems better, but being able to problem-solve a little bit and get creative in how I recover, how I prepare for matches, how I handle my off-days, how I handle training weeks, all of that, it’s taken time.”

The ability to follow through

Beaten by Iga Swiatek in the second round at Indian Wells, Collins quickly bounced back in Miami. Results aside, in her last year on the circuit (if she sticks to her decision to retire at the end of the year, which she announced at the Australian Open), the Florida native is delighted to see her ability to string together performances at the top level.

“I feel like from a physical and mental standpoint, I feel like I have had a really great preparation coming into this, and this has been one of the first times where this might be the most tournaments that I have played in a row.

“So that’s something new, and that’s something to reflect on after the tournament. I have had a lot of matches, and I think with those matches, I’ve won some great matches, I’ve won some close matches, I’ve lost some close matches. So I have been working on, you know, recovering quickly, getting through those, working around injuries and all that. I think that’s helped me a lot, all of the matches that I have gotten under my belt.

“Quite frankly, the amount of matches that I have played this year, previously in some years, I haven’t played this many matches in one season.

“So I’m learning a lot about myself still, and I feel like now I’m figuring out some things that worked that maybe I didn’t think would work and also learning some things that sometimes don’t work that I have had to, you know, reflect on.”

On Saturday, against Elena Rybakina, she’ll be aiming for the biggest title of her career.

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