MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The moment Danielle Collins let Elena Rybakina, the 14,000 fans at Hard Rock Stadium, and all the other tennis officials know how Saturday was going to unfold, was the moment she won the first set and probably the most dangerous. It happened when he was one point away from facing a bad serve. In the game.
As usual, Rybakina used her right trebuchet to launch a missile into the middle of the court. And that’s when Collins, one of the greatest grip and lip tennis talents, stepped back, ripped a swing that took both feet off the ground, cranked the ball that didn’t come back, took the lead, and just kept going. It was. A victory that could be the pinnacle of her tennis career.
About an hour later, she was on stage holding a large glass trophy for winning one of the sport’s big titles in a tournament she had watched as a child on the other side of Florida. Collins defeated the Wimbledon champion, one of the most feared players in the sport, 7-5, 6-4. And she made it just in time. Because that’s the strangest detail of this magical two weeks, a few hours’ drive from the public courts where it all started: At the end of the season, she’ll be out.
Collins, 30 years old, eight years into her professional career, and playing the best tennis of her life, vows that no matter what happens the rest of this year, she’s done playing tennis.
That means the 2022 Australian Open finalist, two-time NCAA champion and locker room reputation as one of the most dangerous players in the game might just be getting carried away. is not a problem. Thank you for the memories, for this time, and for everything else that will happen over the next seven months.
She was tired and exhausted from trying to compete at the highest level while managing endometriosis and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as the chronic pain caused by both conditions. Add to that the loneliness of the road and the game itself. And although she wants to start her own family, her doctor says that given her medical history, it would be better for her to start her own family sooner.
Few people see this as a problem. At least Collins, like many others in the sport, is telling the truth. It’s always like that.
Still, her plan baffled many in the sports world. As she proved Saturday and the past two weeks, when she’s healthy and stuck at home, she’s definitely better than most women. They know it, and so does she.
Collins also has the qualities she brings to the tennis court, the fire and the energy, and the ability to take thousands of people packed into stadiums anywhere in the world on a journey with her. Andy Murray does it. So is Rafael Nadal. Serena Williams did. So can Bianca Andreescu, a talented Canadian who won the US Open in 2019 at the age of 19, but has battled injuries since then.
Watching these players and a few others is like riding shotgun with them. And especially on days like Saturday, Collins was there with her as she fist-pumped, to thunderous screams and cheers, and the 14,000 people packed into a makeshift arena inside Hard Rock Stadium. This was especially true. At that moment, the decisive cross-court backhand crossed the court.
(Robert Prange/Getty Images)
Rybakina watched it go by. Ms. Collins screamed, bent her knees, and continued crouching for a moment, all the noise raining down on her.
“It felt like I was playing in front of thousands of my best friends,” Collins said.
From the sidelines, Collins’ appearance in the finals in Miami looks ridiculous.
She is ranked 53rd in the world, the lowest-ranked player to win the Miami Open, which has been held since 1985. For the past month, she has been qualifying just to play in tournaments like this one, just below the Grand Slam level. She had never reached the finals of a tournament at this level before. She injured her back in Austin, Texas last month and had to withdraw midway through the quarterfinals.
She also decided to take a break from the professional tennis hamster wheel for a while on this final ride around the globe. After she lost in the second round of the Australian Open, she thought she might not be able to return to the area for a while, so she went on a 10-day trip to Tasmania.
Since then, she has been traveling without a coach. She hired a man from her hometown of St. Petersburg, a college coach she has worked with occasionally since 2015, Ben Maxwell, the men’s and women’s coach at Eckerd College, to help her get through this tournament. He was here with her last weekend, spent most of the week coaching at Eckerd, and returned Thursday for the semifinals.
Jimmy Arias, the 1980s American star who is in charge of tennis development at IMG Academy and one of her secret tennis gurus since childhood, also showed up in her box on Saturday to help.
So what exactly happened here to make it all come together in a way we’ve never seen before?
Did he see anything different this week?
“She’s very resilient and she’s having a lot of fun,” Maxwell said Saturday night. “We’re having a really good time off the court. We’ve played some golf the last few nights, but we’ve been a little bit subdued off the tennis court. I think that’s very important. Everyone is playing tennis, tennis, tennis. , and is obsessed with training and training. And I think sometimes it’s good to take a step back and do activities other than tennis to give your mind a break so she knows what to do. She’s a very talented player and one of the best in the world. I’m a big proponent of balance off the tennis court. I think it helps mentally.”
About golf. She plays all the time on her days off. Nothing serious. After playing with the microwave for a while, I played a few holes. She’s not very good at everything, she said. (Maxwell didn’t disagree with this assessment.) But that’s why she likes to play. Even if you’re not good at something, it’s good to try to improve it. It keeps her mind sharp and makes her think about things other than tennis. And she goes back to tennis and she feels completely great.
She also surfs a lot for the same reason. But the waves aren’t very good around Miami or near the big tennis tournaments, so golf is. Plus, it allows her to live her best Florida life. She can also play a little golf, a little tennis, and maybe take a dip in the pool at the resort she’s staying at.
“I’m living the dream,” she said the other day.
And then there’s Quincy, her poodle mix, who comes with her to tournaments and keeps her on an even keel in a service dog kind of way. “Mr. Q.” she calls him.
She has been particular about “Mr.” Q.” He was at her dog’s daycare during her games and has some videos of him watching her play. Quincy seems very confused by all this, she said. he meets his mother. He can see the ball. He doesn’t seem to understand why he’s not there, he’s not involved.
But he was never far from her thoughts. Perhaps that’s why she was so effective in Miami. She played 7 matches and won 14 of 15 sets, after which she often stopped doing post-match chats, telling people she had to go to a daycare service before it was too late. I made an excuse.
But Mr. Q is the last thing on Rybakina’s mind as she stubbornly tried to cancel out the party that so many people were causing all day long, trying desperately to wrap up the biggest title of her career. was.
Collins heard it everywhere she walked Saturday, on the property and in every corner of the tennis court.
Let’s go to DC.
you can do this.
we love you.
She had never experienced anything like it before, but with the exception of the final in Australia two years ago, everyone was giving her hometown hero Ash Barty the same treatment. But this time it was all about her.
“It was just surreal,” she said. “I’ll never forget that day.”
From the beginning of the day, she told herself to keep her emotions in the locker room and wait until after the game to vent them. With one match point and another lost, she returned to the point-to-point routine she had been working on. Just like she does in her yoga practice, she returns to her breathing. Jumping from foot to foot to keep her on her toes and let her nervous energy out so it wouldn’t get in the way of what she needed.
Then came the final ripping backhand.
“So many thoughts were running through my head,” she said. “At the end, I was like, ‘Thank God, I got over that hurdle.'”
Of course, I had other questions. Are you still planning to quit?
Yeah.
Will there be any reconsideration?
no.
The questions come from a good place, she said. They make her feel needed. What else does she want? Good stuff. Great stuff. And she’s not going to let anything get in her way of achieving that.
Once again, Collins told the truth.
(Frey/TPN/Getty Images)
