Retirement Bound Danielle Collins’ Agony Hits a New Low as Draw Makers Show No Respite

Over the past few days, Danielle Collins has been in much news surrounding her retirement. After a disastrous Australian Open campaign which ended in the second round, the American star revealed that she’ll quit tennis after the end of this season. It came as a massive shock to her fans, who were hoping to see her in action for years to come. Moments ago, the 30-year-old has been hit with another unexpected situation.

Collins is set to play back-to-back matches today and tomorrow. While she lost in the second round of the Abu Dhabi Open earlier today, Collins will have to fly to Doha immediately as she opens her campaign there tomorrow. She has to go through the qualifying rounds at the WTA 1000 tournament to play in the main draw.

It is set to be an uphill task for Collins, who was on the court for more than two hours today. She narrowly lost her pre-quarterfinal match against the top seed, Elena Rybakina, in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 3-6. Tomorrow, she faces Australia’s Kimberly Birrell in the first qualifying round of the WTA 1000 Qatar Open.

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WTA’s scheduling has been a glaring issue for months. This is not the first time a player has had to play back-to-back matches without adequate rest. Last year, Iga Swiatek played matches on the same day at the Poland Open and the Canadian Open. As a result, she lashed out at the WTA for their poor scheduling.

What did Iga Swiatek say about the poor match schedule?

In order to increase fan participation in the stadiums, the WTA increased the number of matches in the evening session. As a result, the matches went late into the night. On some occasions, the players even had to play back-to-back matches with just a few hours between them. The same was the case with Swiatek in Poland and Canada.

As a result, Swiatek highlighted how it took a toll on players while slamming the WTA for not addressing this issue. She said, “I wouldn’t mind playing on Court 2 if I could just have a normal night & normal recovery after the match. 1 match like that is cool, I don’t mind… but four? Your whole sleep routine is getting ruined.” 

Meanwhile, for Danielle Collins, as her retirement inches closer with each passing day, she would like to give it her all, even if that means playing back-to-back matches across different tournaments. The first task for her would be to qualify for the main draw of the Qatar Open.

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