Bill Simons
Something was wrong, terribly wrong. American Danielle Collins had had a fine career. She’d twice won the NCAA championships and she’d reached the semis of the Miami and Australian Opens. But for years, her body had let her down. Time and again, she experienced fevers, extreme flu symptoms, or had simply fallen over. She wondered, “What’s wrong? Why is my body always failing me?” Finally she had surgery to remove an endometrial cyst.
Well, God bless modern surgery. Her operation changed everything. And after Wimbledon she emerged onto the European clay summer circuit as if she were a new woman. Coachless but happy, at last she could compete without pain. And, boy, did she – reaching the quarters in Hamburg, the semis in Budapest, and, after seven years on the circuit, winning her first ever tournament – in Palermo. The Floridian fisherman’s daughter was elated with her summer – and it wasn’t even over.
Danielle traveled the 6,491 miles from Palermo to San Jose and battled past her fellow southerner Shelby Rogers, scored a fierce, emotional win over Sloane Stephens, downed the No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina, and demolished Croatian qualifier Ana Konjuh in 52 merciless minutes. Then, in the final, she faced the considerable Russian, Daria Kasatkina, who once again was in a California final. In 2018 Daria had beaten four Slam winners – Caroline Wozniacki, Sloane Stephens, Angie Kerber and Venus – to reach the Indian Wells final before she fell to Naomi Osaka. We knew she was a tough cookie. She once commented, “I’m from cold Russia – we are always unhappy.” In the San Jose final she was hardly chirpy, as she again seemed bound for defeat.
Collins, 27, came out of the gate on fire, blasting forehands to the lines, hitting severe crosscourt backhands and running her foe to the far corners of the court. When in gear, Collins displays a white-hot intensity. Here was the fierce WTA competitor we’ve long known.
She recently told IT that it all went back to her childhood. A coach called her “Tenacious D.” She ran down every ball. She bloodied her knees – scars were everywhere. Her dad told her to chill. “You don’t have to go for every shot. Just let it go – there’ll be another point.” But Tenacious D wouldn’t have it. The 50 years of the Mubadala Silicon Valley Open have seen some of the most intense competitors in women’s sports: Billie Jean King, Serena, Venus and Sharapova, to name just a few. Collins isn’t at that level, but for the first 17 games of the final you could have fooled us. Today she raced to a 6-3, 5-3 lead, and had a championship point.
But the flip side of Tenacious D is “Fragile D.” In a heartbeat, her nerves can fray. The slightest distraction can set her off. Anxious to win back-to-back titles, Collins began to over-hit. Closing out a tennis match can sometimes be a treacherous misadventure. Suddenly Danielle was upset by anything and everything – shrieks from the crowd, errant cell phone rings, and most all, the calm, finesse and insistent defense by Kasatkina. Collins’ once powerful forehands caught the net or flew long, and a shank backhand seemed bound for Palo Alto. Five times in the second set she had championship points, but faltered badly. Collins shrieked and berated herself. She bent low and howled, “C’mon, Danielle!” Then on her fourth set point, Kasatkina captured one of the more memorable tiebreaks in tournament history – 12-10.
San Jose fans now anticipated a monumental deciding set. But between sets it was as if Tenacious D had told herself, “Enough already. I know I imploded. I had that bucket of championship points. But I’m going to be positive and impose myself on this Russian girl.”
Tenacious D did just that, as she broke Kasatkina three times and raced to a 6-3, 6-7(10), 6-1 victory. Before this summer, Collins had played 51 tournaments without winning a single one. Now she’d won back-to-back tournaments on two different continents and two different surfaces. And if that doesn’t prove that Collins is tenacious, we don’t know what does.
