Right at the beginning of the season, Danielle Collins, a former Australian Open runner-up, casually revealed that this would be her final year as a professional tennis player. Unlike many others who struggle to move on, Collins has discussed her decision without anguish. Coming to terms with the end of her career has instead been freeing, allowing her to swing for the fences and ensure that she finishes with no regrets.
Having already started the year performing well, over the past two weeks Collins has played tennis of the highest quality, methodically hitting the best players in the world off the court. On Saturday Collins closed off one of the best working fortnights of her career by defeating Elena Rybakina, the fourth seed, 7-5, 6-3 to win the Miami Open – by far the biggest title of her career.
