Danielle Collins makes retirement U-turn: I will be back on tour in 2025
Danielle Collins has announced that she will not be retiring as planned at the end of this season, with the 30-year-old admitting that ‘things have not gone as planned’.
Collins had revealed that 2024 would be her last season earlier this year, after dealing with health conditions such as endometriosis and wanting to start a family being a big factor in this decision.
And this seemed to inspire the American, who won the biggest title of her career at the Miami Open and continued this momentum on to also win the title in Charleston as part of a 15-match winning streak.
However, since retiring at the Paris Olympics due to an abdominal injury, Collins has only played three matches and lost all of them including in the first round of the US Open.
It was expected that Collins would play her final matches as part of the USA’s Billie Jean King (BJK) Cup team at the Finals in Malaga, but that is no longer the case.
After Collins appeared on the United Cup entry list for next season, the World No.9 confirmed that she will be competing again in 2025 and explained the challenges that she has been dealing with recently.
“Hi everyone, I’ve been a little MIA the last few weeks so I want to give everyone an update,” Collins said on Instagram. “It’s been a stressful time with these horrific hurricanes that wiped through Florida, and on top of it I’ve been dealing with some issues around my endometriosis and other health challenges. While I was very excited and eager to wrap up my tennis career on a high note this year and jump headfirst into my next chapter of life, things have not gone as planned.”
She continued, “In addition to managing some lingering health challenges the past few months, I’ve recently been seeing a handful of specialists to better understand what my best path forward is to achieve my ultimate dream, starting a family. Dealing with endometriosis and fertility is a massive challenge for many women and something that I am actively traversing, but I am fully confident in the team I am working with. It is just going to take longer than I thought. So, the DANIMAL story has not reached its conclusion. I will be back on tour in 2025.
“While there are no guarantees in life, I hope to build on my 2024 momentum and keep playing until there is more certainty around my personal fertility journey. The only guarantee for now will be some more epic matches. Thank you to all of my fans and the amazing people behind me that have been so encouraging during this time and also to my closest friends on tour that have been supporting me every step of the way.”
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Collins is still set to be part of the BJK Cup Finals in Malaga next month, with USA taking on Slovakia in the quarter-finals on 14th November.
Inside the baseline…
It is difficult to comment on whether this is great news or not, as obviously it is fantastic that Danielle Collins is going to continue competing as she is pure entertainment value, but the reasons for her continuation are not so great. However, that being said Collins seems like she has come to terms with this new development in her life and hopefully she can show more of the same form that we saw in the first half of 2024.
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