“My hope is to return to competition in Monterey,” is what Danielle Collins said in her latest injury update. The WTA star faced a notable setback at the Paris Olympics and has been keeping herself out ever since. While it was something that took 4 crucial months of her journey earlier, she is making sure that is not repeated in the last season of her professional career. Amid the extended absence, a drastic change in rankings occurred, bringing new names up and hers down.

The latest WTA rankings revealed a significant drop in numbers for Collins, pushing her down to the bottom of the top ten. She dropped two spots from her previous position because of her notable absence from the North American hardcourt season. This has been a challenging period for her due to an injury she sustained at the Paris Olympics.

Collins’ campaign in Paris started well as she took down fierce rivals, finally making it to the quarterfinals. This is where the real challenge was posed as she faced the top seed Iga Swiatek. During their match, Collins suffered a heat stroke, which caused her to strain her rectus abdominis. This unfortunate incident forced her to withdraw from the match while down 1-4 in the third set.

Collins addressed her fans on Instagram, saying, “After having a heat stroke in Paris, I strained my rectus abdominis… I don’t want to have a repeat of that,“ she said, highlighting a similar issue she incurred four years ago, which took her out of competition for a notable period. Her injury and withdrawal from two important WTA 1000 events—the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Masters—have cost her crucial ranking points.

While she currently strives to find her way back into the scene, other players like Taylor Townsend and Anna Kalinskaya have taken advantage of Collins’ absence. Townsend climbed to her career-high ranking of 53 because of her a quarterfinal run at the Canadian Open.

Similarly, Jannik Sinner’s girlfriend, Anna Kalinskaya, moved up the rankings after reaching the finals in Berlin and made it to the round of 16 at Wimbledon. This helped her attain a new career high of #15.

Even after facing a setback, Collins hopes to be back soon in order to cover the lost points. During this tough time in her career, members of Team USA came forward to hype her up, showing firm belief in her levels.

Emma Navarro appreciates the “unapologetic” nature of Danielle Collins

Paris Olympics, besides giving an opportunity for the players to win for their nation’s glory, also brought compatriots together. Young WTA stars like Emma Navarro and Coco Gauff, who generally fought against each other, received an opportunity to go hand in hand against their toughest rivals in the WTA. During that period, Navarro got to learn a lot from Collins’ experience and reflected on the same in an interview.

“Yeah, for sure. We have very different on-court personalities, for sure, but I think she’s taught me a little bit about how to just be yourself, and not everyone’s going to like how you go about things, but don’t let that get to you. She’s, yeah, very outgoing and expressive on the court, and she’s unapologetically herself, which I think is really cool,“ the 23-year-old said.

Collins is currently hustling to be back in the game. As she has denied all requests to postpone her retirement, it is crucial for her to miss no more events. She will play her final slam in the US Open. Will she attain the big prize?