Danielle Collins Reflects on Mystery WTA Friend’s Life-Changing Role in Her Endometriosis Diagnosis: ‘I Had a Surgery’

Danielle Collins has had one of her finest seasons this year. She won two back-to-back WTA titles, the Miami Open in March and the Charleston Open in April. She even went on to achieve a 15-match winning streak. However, before all this success, she had already announced her retirement in January 2024. She wanted to hang up her racket to start her family with boyfriend Brian Kipp, owing to a health condition that affects fertility. But in mid-October, her retirement plan took a U-turn. Now, the American has opened up the real support system of her journey.

Collins’ health struggles began in 2019 with a rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis, an autoimmune disease predominantly affecting women. In 2021, she further disclosed her battle with endometriosis, a chronic inflammatory disease, undergoing surgery to remove a significant ovarian cyst. Fast forward to today, in an interview with the New York Times, dated November 14th, Collins revealed that she wasn’t initially aware of the condition in the first place. It was, in fact, a friend of hers she met during a WTA tour who helped her out in understanding this condition and had her diagnosis done on time.

Just when she thought there was no solution available, despite having daily check ups, her unnamed friend told her about the right treatment – laparoscopy. It’s a surgical procedure to confirm a diagnosis of endometriosis. “I had a friend on tour that had endometriosis and she said to me, ‘I had surgery for this'”, she revealed.

The advice eventually changed her life for the good “and really helped me for a long period of time.” While thanking that special friend(whose identity isn’t known), Collins mentioned, “Things have been a lot better for me since I’ve had the diagnosis. If it wasn’t for having that friend in that conversation, I don’t think I would have been steered in the right direction,” she said.

“While I was very excited and eager to wrap up my tennis career on a high note this year and jump headfirst into my next chapter of life, things have not gone as planned,” Collins wrote on her Instagram page on October 18th to announce that she is no more retiring from tennis at the end of this season. “So, the Danimal story has not reached its conclusion. I will be back on tour in 2025.” She further added, “Dealing with endometriosis and fertility is a massive challenge for many women and something that I am actively traversing, but I am fully confident in the team I am working with.”

Meanwhile, she’s currently trying to rewire her mind after dropping retirement plans. At the same time, she’s willing to make a strong comeback next year.

Danielle Collins thinks it will take some time to get back in form

In the same interview, DANIMAL mentioned that being away from tennis for the past few months has taken a “lot of gas” out of her tank. Simply put, she will need to work harder to get back into a playing mode. Especially given the fact that she’s spent ample time on diagnosis lately. “I’m in a much different place now with my tennis, my career, my life. I think getting back out there, you’re trying to get into the competing mode and trying to find that consistency with the physical parts, because I have taken a little bit of time off to address all of this stuff,” she said.

As of now, the American player is eager to extend her professional journey in 2025. However, her season this year has already come to an end. In a crucial match of Billie Jean King Cup Finals, on Thursday, her country was eliminated after losing against Rebecca Sramkova. It was a huge upset for America, whose team is a 18-time winner in the history of the tournament. The entire match consisted of three separate encounters.

Initially, the USA won the first battle, courtesy of Taylor Townsend’s victory against Renata Jamrichova in a singles face-off. She won with a scoreline of 7-5, 6-4. However, the next one went to Slovakia after Rebecca Sramkova beat Danielle Collins. She got the better of her in a singles encounter and won 6-2, 7-5 in straight sets. As a result, the match went into a deciding battle where Slovakia reigned supreme once again.

The doubles pair of Viktoria Hruncakova and Tereza Mihalíková helped their country to secure an astonishing victory in the tiebreake. They beat Taylor Townsend and rookie Ashlyn Krueger 6-3, 3-6, 10-8. Slovakia got a lead of 2-1 over the USA and eventually advanced further. They will now face Australia in the quarterfinal round on Sunday.