Danielle Collins is enjoying the best season of her career, and she's glad to go out in style because this will be her final season on the WTA Tour.
The American is an incredible player at her peak, and she's showing it all this year. Some of her best career performances came this year, especially a few weeks ago when she won back-to-back events in Miami and Charleston.
Still, it can be a bittersweet feeling for the 30-year-old because this is her final season. She will retire from professional tennis at the end of the year, something many people have called into question, but she's quite adamant about that.
She's actually quite annoyed by those who don't want to let her retire in peace because many have been calling on her to continue.
She doesn't plan to do that, and it's great to see her enjoying her final months on the Tour. She loves the fact that she's going out with 'a bang' and playing some really solid tennis, as she said during her semi-final run at the 2024 Italian Open.
"I'm going out with a bang. I want to go out playing my best tennis because I certainly wouldn't want to go out playing my worst tennis. That does happen sometimes, unfortunately. It's important for me to feel like I got everything I could out of myself as an athlete."
Collins' career wasn't easy, as she endured struggles with injuries and other health issues. She's just happy that things have trended upward in the last few weeks and hopes that continues in the coming weeks. She certainly knows best that this doesn't happen that often.
"It's super rewarding because you go through periods where you might take three steps forward and four steps back some weeks. It's kind of like the stock market. It's really up and down sometimes."
"So it's been nice to have a stretch when I've just been climbing, because it's not always like that. You have to be really happy for yourself in these moments because it doesn't always work out that way."