By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday May 10, 2025
Danielle Collins, clay guru? That’s typically the realm of Iga Swiatek, but after the American snapped her six-match losing streak against the three-time Rome champion on Saturday at the Foro Italico, it’s time to give the 31-year-old Florida native her due.
She’s 23-6 on the surface since the start of 2024, and is hoping that she can prolong her stay in Rome after reaching the round of 16. Collins, who reached the semifinals in Rome last year, will face Elina Svitolina next.
“I’m just really embracing getting to get these matches on the clay,” she told reporters after her 6-1, 7-5 win over the four-time Roland-Garros champion. “I really wish we had a longer clay court season. It’s a part of the season I really do enjoy because I do think the clay is so special. It’s kind of nice on the body, as well – I’m not going to lie – compared to the hard courts.”
A Blast from the Past
We don’t hear many players talking about Elena Dementieva, the former World No.3 who won 16 titles and was considered one of the best players to have never won a major, but Collins gave praise to the Russian in a roundabout way when she was asked how she was able to get through a match against Swiatek while making just 47.7 percent of her first serves.
“Growing up, I watched a lot of Elena Dementieva… Elena Dementieva made a career for herself not making many first serves,” said Collins. “That was a really tough shot for her. She had so many other special parts of her game that made her the player she was. She was athletic.
“Sometimes when I have a bad serving day I think about Elena Dementieva and all of the things she was able to achieve even when the serve or first serve wasn’t working well for her.
“It just shows you you can have one area of your game not be effective one day, but if you have other skills and talent, you can apply that and really achieve some great things.”
Iga’s clay woes continue in Rome, as Danielle Collins Surges Past the three-time champ in a rousing Rome upset 👇https://t.co/UiN3FQKMtQ pic.twitter.com/sJHuBrYlrF
— TennisNow (@Tennis_Now) May 10, 2025
Overcoming Doubts
For Collins, getting a win over Swiatek was an exercise in self-belief an execution. She spoke about the fact that she felt she played some of her best tennis in losses against Swiatek and simply needed to do more of the same to get a win over the World No.2.
“I feel like Iga and I have played so many times at this point. When you have a losing record against someone you lose a lot of matches that are so close, I feel like you learn something from it,” she said. “I was able to make the adjustments from past losses and execute really well. I feel like my timing was really on, and I feel like the level that Iga and these top players play, it really brings out some of my top tennis at times, even if some of these matches haven’t gone my way. That’s the interesting thing about tennis, I feel like some of my best matches are ones that I lost, which is cool.”
Collins said she was able to stay calm in crunch time, and it was clear as she dealt with Swiatek saving a match point to level at five-all. She continued bossing the ball and took the last two games to finish the victory.
“Of course I think the nerves always try to help fuel you and get that adrenaline going and in those high pressure moments you ultimately want to try to thrive in those moments, and I feel like today my execution was really on, my shots were really dialed in and I was very clear with what I needed to do, to be relentless and keep going after shots and keep her guessing, and I did exactly that.”
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New Coach, New Energy?
Collins has been working with a new coach, Fanni Varga, and says that her collaboration with the former WTA player from Romania has helped her find a better emotional balance in her tennis.
“I think it’s not easy after losing quite a few matches in a row against a tough opponent and someone who is one of the best in the world,” she said. “Just taking that and learning from it. I feel like my coach, too, has been such a calming presence and that’s a huge game-changer, helping me on the mental side, and just being so encouraging. And also being held accountable when I need to be held accountable. It’s been so great working with my new coach, I’m just loving her calming presence and her energy, it’s just fantastic.”
“It’s a balancing thing. I’ve been too chill [at times] and that hasn’t gone well for me. Today it was a really good balance, that’s something I’ve been working on,” she said.
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It all might seem a bit strange, as Collins was basically on a farewell tour in 2024, after announcing plans to retire. But things changed in her personal life and she decided that she had more to give to the sport. Perhaps the former Grand Slam finalist and World No.7, now 31 years of age, will use her newfound clarity to achieve a level she has never hit before?
“I’ve been trying to go on court and just get focused on my gameplan and try to work on not too many highs and not too many lows, because I can be a bit of a perfectionist,” she said. “Sometimes being a perfectionist and having that self-reflection is really good, and ultimately gets us to compete at the highest level but it can also be too much for us to handle sometimes and when you go too far the other way with that it can be negative.
