Danielle Collins: Is Endometriosis the Reason for Her Retirement?

American tennis star Danielle Collins will be playing against Japanese tennis prodigy Naomi Osaka at the Abu Dhabi Open today. Collins announced retirement from this season after Poland’s Iga Swiatek defeated her in the Australian Open 2024’s second round. This American tennis star was forced to make this decision because she immediately needed laparoscopic treatment for an unknown disease.

However, it seemed like Danielle Collins chose to reconsider her decision as she will be challenging Naomi Osaka on the court today. While fans are excited about the match, Collins’s condition has made them anxious too. Let’s hear about Danielle Collins’s infamous disease, endometriosis, and her struggle living with it.

Danielle Collins and her struggles with Endometriosis

Collins’ laparoscopic treatment was for endometriosis, a disease or condition having the inside cells of the womb grow in other places. While surgery helped her in this context, endometriosis caused Collins a huge pain during her mensuration. According to her recent statement, this condition led her to choose the decision of retirement for this season.

Collins commented as quoted by Eurosport, “I’ve always had painful periods but I remember a couple of years ago being woken from my sleep and immediately needing to drive to the pharmacy to buy anti-inflammatories just to be able to get through the night.”

She continued, “Ever since that incident, I would get really sick around my period with almost flu-like symptoms; fever, chills, throwing up, fainting at times and even having to go to hospital. I would also have a lot of fluid in my stomach which would leave me really bloated and it just got to the point where it was so agonising. The inevitability that this would occur month after month would really shake me a lot mentally because it was really tough knowing I would have to perform physically despite everything.”

Read more: Everything You Need to Know About Danielle Collins’ Coach Nicolas Almagro and Her Coaching Situation

This American tennis star’s life was challenging. She further said, “It was incredibly debilitating – there was one occasion when I physically couldn’t get on a plane to travel to my next tournament as a result of my period starting. Then there were times I was forced to retire from my matches because I would get this stabbing pain from my back down to my foot as my uterus had flipped back and put pressure on the sciatic nerve. It would mean regularly withdrawing from tournaments because my body just wouldn’t allow me to train or compete.”

Danielle Collins’s statement expressed that despite all the odds, she returned to the court because of her indomitable spirit. Collins’s journey became a true motivation for many athletes out there struggling with many physical conditions. Whether she wins today or not, fans salute Collins’s positive energy and dedication to the sport.

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