Danielle Collins balks at being asked to explain retirement
Danielle Collins has responded to those who question why she has decided to retire from tennis at the end of the current season.
Collins made the retirement call as she continues to manage a chronic inflammatory disease that can make everyday life painful even for somebody not trying to be a top athlete.
Her run to the Miami Open semi-finals brought the question up again but Collins dealt with the questioning quite well.
Collins added that she doesn’t know why she has been pushed to provide in-depth reasoning for her retirement over and over again.
“No, but I think it’s really interesting how in a lot of different situations I have had to kind of justify the reasons behind retirement,” explained Collins.
“I’m living with a chronic inflammatory disease that affects your ability to get pregnant, and so that’s a deeply personal situation. I’ve kind of explained that from time to time.”
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Collins made it clear that her retirement call was hers to make at the end of the day.
She feels that she is enjoying her tennis in her swansong season but repeated her irritation at being made to cover the same ground with reporters at every tournament she plays.
“Yeah, I think it’s a good question, but I think at the end of the day, my choice, like, this is my personal choice. This is so much more to do than just tennis and my career. I’m enjoying my career. I’m having a lot of fun. I love coming out here and competing. But at the end of the day this is a really big life decision, and yeah, I think that that should be pretty understandable.”
Collins has clarified that this will be her last term in action but she remains uncertain of her future outside of tennis.
“You know, I’m not sure,” Collins said when asked about her plans after retirement.
“I’m not sure if I’ll kind of continue working in tennis. You know, I think I definitely want to start a family. That’s the main priority. And have other interests outside of the tennis court and kind of need to have the time and the space to be able to focus on, you know, what sparks my interest.
“I feel like with the lifestyle we live and this being our full-time job and so much of our day-to-day revolving around preparing and getting ready for the next tournament and going out and competing, you know, we don’t have a lot of time to kind of think about that next chapter unless you are thinking about doing something in tennis.
“So I kind of need a little bit of time to figure out what that’s going to be, but I think what I’m looking forward to the most is kind of stepping away from public eye a little bit and being able to have a, you know, quiet lifestyle and a simple one.”
