Danielle Collins was born on December 13, 1993, in St Petersburg, Florida, to Walter and Cathy Collins. She trained at the Isla Del Sol Yacht & Country Club in St Petersburg for six years and at IMG Academy from 2010 to 2012 before receiving a scholarship from the University of Florida.
After transferring to the University of Virginia after one year in Florida, Collins had a very impressive college career. The American helped Virginia win consecutive ACC Championships in 2014 and 2015. She was also the singles champion at the NCAA Championships in 2014 and 2016.
Collins finished her college career in 2016 as the nation’s top-ranked player and received the Honda Sports Award for tennis. She had a cumulative win-loss record of 101-20 at the end of her college career. The American’s successful time in college meant she broke through later than many players on the WTA Tour.
By the end of 2017, Collins had only played three WTA-level matches and lost them all. She ended 2017 with a ranking of No. 167. However, Collins had a breakthrough in 2018. Although she did not win a match at a Grand Slam that year, Collins had a superb run to the semifinal at the WTA 1000 event in Miami.
This included a quarterfinal triumph against Venus Williams, but she lost in the semifinals 6-7, 3-6 to Jelena Ostapenko. The 2019 Australian Open was Collins’ breakthrough at a Grand Slam. Wins against Julia Gorges, Sachia Vickery, and Caroline Garcia took her into the fourth round.
She then dismantled three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber 6-0, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinal. Collins had a tough three-set battle against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova but prevailed to make the semifinal. Petra Kvitova proved to be one hurdle too many for the big-hitting American, as she lost to the Czech player 6-7, 0-6.
After reaching the quarterfinal of the Roland Garros in 2020, Collins won her first WTA tournaments in 2021. The first was on the clay courts of Palermo in July, and the second came the following month on the hard courts at the Silicon Valley Classic.
But the biggest moment of Collins’ career occurred the following year at the 2022 Australian Open. She began with two comfortable victories against Caroline Dolehide and Ana Konjuh. Collins then fought through from a set behind against Clara Tauson and Elise Mertens to progress to another quarterfinal in Melbourne.
After beating Alize Cornet, Collins produced an incredible performance to dismantle Iga Swiatek 6-4, 6-1 and reach a first Grand Slam final. Sadly for the American, home favourite and world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty was too strong and overcame the American 6-3, 7-6.
