In Charleston, Collins shared some interesting details about her relationship.
Danielle Collins has revealed some pretty interesting details about her relationship as the American tennis star shares she met her boyfriend Bryan while in London for Wimbledon but her current boyfriend had no idea that she was a pro tennis player.
Over the last couple of months, recent Miami Open champion Collins several times mentioned that she is in a relationship but never revealed any major details. On Friday, world No. 22 Collins had a successful day at the office in Charleston, having beaten Elise Mertens 6-3 6-4 in the quarterfinal.
After the match, Collins sat down with Tennis Channel for an interview, where she revealed that her boyfriend was a guy from Boston named Bryan. Also, the American tennis star revealed that her boyfriend had just arrived from Boston to Charleston after a long week of work.
“Yeah, Bryan made the trip from Boston. He’s had a really busy work week,” Collins said on Tennis Channel.
“We have been going out for a while now. We met at a coffee shop in London so that was pretty exciting. I didn’t think I would meet someone at a coffee shop. Who would have thought? Just after the tournament, Wimbledon.”
Collins: My boyfriend didn’t know I was a tennis player
Last summer, Collins had a short run at Wimbledon as she defeated Julia Grabher in the first round before suffering a very tight second-round loss to Belinda Bencic. After her Wimbledon exit, Collins didn’t immediately leave London and that’s what ultimately led to her meeting her current boyfriend in a London coffee shop.
After realizing that Bryan wasn’t that much into tennis and that he didn’t know who she was, Collins actually loved it because she didn’t think that having someone by her side with other interests was a bad thing.
“He didn’t know anything about tennis, and he didn’t know I was a tennis player, which was really nice,” Collins revealed.
“He was actually a bigger fan of golf and so he said, ‘Well I really like golf. I don’t really know much about tennis.’ And I was like, ‘Yes! That’s so exciting.’
“Because it’s fun to kind of be around someone that has interests in other things and that’s not as familiar with the sport because you get to learn and grow with them and help them.”
Collins won’t change her retirement plans, hopes to have a baby in the near future
In late March, 30-year-old Collins completed the biggest win of her career after winning a WTA 1000 title in Miami. Expectedly, that led to reporters asking Collins if that was impacting her retirement plans in any way and if she would be open to playing beyond 2024.
Answering the question, Collins underlined that her Miami run or any other result would not be changing her retirement plans. Then, Collins proceeded to pretty directly note that she is battling a chronic inflammatory disease that is not helping her in her hopes of becoming a mother one day.
In her message, Collins also highlighted that some things in life are bigger than tennis.
“No, but I think it’s really interesting how in a lot of different situations I have had to kind of justify the reasons behind retirement. I’m living with a chronic inflammatory disease that affects your ability to get pregnant, and so that’s, like, a deeply, like, personal situation. I’ve kind of explained that from time to time,” Collins explained.
“Yeah, I think it’s a good question, but I think at the end of the day, like, my choice, like, this is my personal choice. This is so much more to do than just tennis and my career.
“I’m enjoying my career. I’m having a lot of fun. I love coming out here and competing. But at the end of the day, like, this is a really big, like, life decision, and yeah, I think that that should be, like, pretty understandable, yeah.”
After Collins won a hard-court tournament in Miami, the general expectation was that she would withdraw from Charleston and not start her clay season this week. But Collins seemingly didn’t want to miss out on a chance to play another American tournament as she came to Charleston for her third tournament appearance.
In Charleston, Collins continued her fine form as she beat Paula Badosa, Ons Jabeur, Sloane Stephens and Mertens en route to making the semifinal and prolonging her winning streak to 11 matches. Collins plays next against Maria Sakkari.