“Danimal” is hitting the headlines for all the perfect reasons. American Danielle Collins (seeded 13th) stormed into the Round of 16 at the Italian Open! On Sunday evening, she defeated Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia (seeded 22nd) in straight sets (6-3, 6-3) at the Foro Italico in Rome. This victory marks a significant milestone for Collins, as it’s her first time reaching the fourth round in Rome. As Collins continues to unleash her magic, tennis veteran Andy Roddick recalled a “deadline” conversation with Danielle.

Andy Roddick recently attended the Tennis Channel Live Podcast and had a detailed conversation about Danielle Collins with American sports commentator Steve Weissman and American former World No. 1 tennis player, Tracy Austin. In Return Of the Danimal episode of the podcast, Austin asked the ATP legend whether this thought of playing her last season before her retirement has freed Collins from all tensions. Austin also asked whether this stress-less Collins is unleashing her skills to perform well and improve her WTA rank.

Referring to a conversation with Danielle Collins, Roddick said- “Yeah we actually talked a little bit, it was less about kind of the freeing up of things. You know, she basically said like I was if I wasn’t 150 by a certain time of my career I was gonna stop. Then I got to 150 and if I wasn’t 100 by the time I got to a certain point of my career, I was gonna stop. Now it looks like I gotta make as much of it. In fact, cause I can before I have to stop. And I said then it seems like you’re really well on a deadline and she thought that might be great.” 

Danielle Collins is the lowest-ranked woman to ever win the Miami Open. In fact, after winning the Miami, Collins showed a chill mentality. “I had that mentality of, like, I’m going to enjoy every minute of this, This is my last year, this is my last season, and these are some of my final events. I wanted to remember these moments.”

The 30-year-old is on a red-hot streak, having won 17 of her last 19 matches. Notably, her only losses during this impressive run came against the current top two players in the world, Iga Swiatek (No. 1) and Aryna Sabalenka (No. 2). However, noting her performance fans would agree that she is trying her best to rise from her old ranking before she retires from this sport she passionately plays. Given Andy Roddick’s past compliments about Collins, did fans not see this vibe coming from him?

Andy Roddick thinks one doesn’t need “to be a diehard tennis fan to understand” Danielle Collins’s vibe

In Served with Andy Roddick, the tennis legend expressed his admiration for Collins’ aggressive playstyle on the court. “It’s like you don’t have to be a diehard tennis fan to understand her vibe to understand that there’s like this primal aggression inside of this. You know, awesome you know, woman just taking cuts and everything…subtlety It’s like she is going to walk up and throw haymakers like and it’s just it’s fun I mean, so I get it” he said.

After winning both the Miami and the Charleston Open, Collins’s fans would agree with Roddick that she is on the deadline to make her rank as high as possible one last time. Given her impressive energy and spirit on the court, she might fulfill this dream before leaving her racket on the ground forever. Her next challenge will be against Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu. It will be exciting to see if Collins can maintain her momentum and advance to the quarterfinals!