"Women get framed as emotional, frustrated, I just say, F it!" - Danielle Collins lays bare her ever-burning "passion" after Wimbledon 3R win
Danielle Collins spoke at length about the passionate woman she is after her emphatic win over Beatriz Haddad Maia in the third round of the ongoing 2024 Wimbledon Championships. She also dismissed the conventional labels associated with women, opining that she has always stayed true to herself and will continue to do so.
Wimbledon 2024 marks Collins' final appearance at the prestigious grass-court Major, where she had never gone beyond the third round before. The 2022 Australian Open finalist is set to retire at the end of the ongoing season. She made a disastrous start against Haddad Maia, losing the first four games in the first set.
However, she mounted a stirring comeback, remarkably winning the six following games to clinch the set 6-4.
The roles reversed in the second set. This time around, it was Collins who established a 3-0 lead, but Haddad Maia stormed back to level things up. Play was halted at this point due to rain. When it resumed though, it was Collins who came out firing, eventually guaranteeing her progress to the fourth round at SW19 for the first time in her career.
After the match, Collins opened up on one of her characteristic traits that has defined her right from the start of her tennis career; her passion, which she is never afraid to express. The World No. 11 also urged women to embrace the passionate parts of themselves despite society at large often frowning upon their "emotional" and "frustrated" phases.
"I lay my emotions out there and I wear my heart on my sleeve and I'm someone who's not afraid to be myself and I think as women, we should really embrace that and support each other and be able to use that passion to fire us up. I think it's a lot. We get framed as emotional and frustrated and this and that, and I just say, F it! I'm going for it and I'm wearing my heart on my sleeve and I'm going to always bring the passion," Collins said during her post-match, on-court interview.
Collins also said that through her passion on the court, she is always trying to entertain people.
"So, that's one thing (passion), that, throughout my entire career, whether it was from the start graduating from college or kind of at the end of my career here now, I'm always bringing the passion. Trying to keep everybody entertained as much as I can," Collins added.
"To have a family is challenging as a woman when your career depends on your body" - Danielle Collins
In a column she wrote for the BBC during the early stages of the 2024 French Open, Collins went in-depth into her reasons behind calling time on her career after the conclusion of the 2024 season. The World No. 11 expressed her desire to have a family, along with the challenges that the desire's realization is likely to bring if she continues to play tennis.
"I'm going to be 31 at the end of the year and one of my biggest goals outside of tennis is to have a family. Being able to have a family is challenging as a woman when your career depends on your body. It would be especially difficult to think about playing tennis while pregnant," Collins wrote.
The 2022 Australian Open runner-up's next Wimbledon outing is set to be on Monday, July 8. Collins is slated to lock horns against No. 31 seed Barbora Krejcikova. If Collins wins, she will face either 13th seed Jelena Ostapenko or Yulia Putintseva in the quarterfinals.