Tennis-Collins announces impending retirement after Australian Open exit

Tennis – Australian Open – Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia – January 18, 2024 Danielle Collins of the U.S. reacts during her second round match against Poland’s Iga Swiatek REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Former world number seven and Australian Open finalist Danielle Collins announced she would be retiring this season after a close second-round loss to world number one Iga Swiatek at Melbourne Park on Thursday.

The 30-year-old American, who had a 4-1 lead in the deciding set but went down 6-4 3-6 6-4 to the four-times Grand Slam champion, said she was sick of the travel and wanted to have a family.

“This is going to be my last season, actually, competing,” Collins told reporters after racing off Rod Laver Arena and straight into her press conference. “I don’t really know exactly when, but this will be my last season and I’m really looking forward to that.”

Her peak ranking of seventh in the world came in 2022 after she had beaten Swiatek in the semi-finals at Melbourne Park before going on to lose to Ash Barty in the final.

She also reached the semi-finals in Melbourne in 2019 and the quarter-finals of the French Open the following year.

“I feel like I’ve had a pretty good career. There has certainly been ups and downs to it, and I think the travel and some of the things away from the court with scheduling and all of that, this is a really tough sport,” Collins told reporters.

“I have other things that I’d kind of like to accomplish in my life outside of tennis, and would like to be able to kind of, you know, be able to have the time to be able to do that. Obviously having kids is a big priority for me.”

Collins said she was proud of taking Swiatek so close on Thursday and that losing did not sting as much as it had earlier in her career.

“I feel like I have kind of gotten to the point where obviously they matter and, you know, my career means a lot to me, but the end of the day, you know, you either win or you lose, and that’s all there is to it,” she said.

(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; editing by Nick Mulvenney and Peter Rutherford)