Danielle Collins - "College tennis gave me time to evolve and mature...because you have to have a thick skin in this sport"

Danielle Collins has spoken up about the impact of her college tennis experience on her professional career. According to the 30-year-old, college tennis helped her evolve both physically and mentally.

Collins' first taste of college tennis came with the Florida Gators. During her time representing them, she won 24 singles matches while losing eight. She later made the move to the University of Virginia and became one of the star performers for the Virginia Cavaliers, notching up an astonishing 101-20 win-loss record.

The Florida native's stellar form helped the University of Virginia to back-to-back Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championships in 2014 and 2015. Collins also won singles titles at the NCAA Championships in 2014 and 2016. In the latter year, she called time on her college tennis career as the top-ranked player in the USA.

The 30-year-old featured in an episode of the Served With Andy Roddick podcast. During her appearance on the podcast, she laid bare how college tennis prepared her to deal with the challenges of professional tennis.

Collins said that she lacked confidence during her younger years but her stellar college career allowed her to believe that she would be able to make it as a professional tennis player.

"For me, it (college tennis) was the best thing, because I wasn't physically or emotionally like mature enough or old enough to be a professional tennis player. I didn't have the self-confidence in myself," Collins said (at 59:38).

She went on to talk about the positives of the collegiate tennis experience in terms of her physical and emotional evolution.

"It ended up really working out for me in the best way possible, and it really gave me time to evolve and mature physically and emotionally, because I was not ready at 16 or 17 years old," Danielle Collins said.

The current WTA World No. 15 concluded by expressing her gratitude for the opportunities she had during her formative years in the sport, which, according to her, gave her "strong resilience".

"I'm really grateful that I had those years to kind of mature and develop like a strong resilience, because you have to have a thick skin in this sport," Collins concluded.

Danielle Collins is aiming to win her third title of the season at the Italian Open

Danielle Collins celebrates after defeating Victoria Azarenka in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Italian Open

Danielle Collins' farewell season has been an impressive one so far. The 2022 Australian Open finalist won two back-to-back titles earlier this year at the Miami Open and the Credit One Open in Charleston.

Right now, she is on the verge of reaching the Italian Open final. However, World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka awaits Collins in the WTA 1000 event's semifinals.

Danielle Collins' record against Aryna Sabalenka is dismal, with the 30-year-old having lost all five of her encounters on the WTA Tour against the Belarusian powerhouse. The pair's last meeting came in the fourth round of the Madrid Open. Despite Collins' emphatic first-set display, Sabalenka came from behind to win the match.

If Collins makes it past Sabalenka in Rome, she will face either World No. 1 Iga Swiatek or World No. 3 Coco Gauff.