The woman playing the best tennis on the WTA Tour at the moment? One could certainly make a strong case for Danielle Collins.
Earlier this season, the 30-year-old American announced 2024 would be her last on tour, and she has followed that by playing some of the best tennis of her career.
Riding a 13-match win streak, Collins is up to No. 15 on the WTA Tour rankings after starting the year at No. 54. Her UTR rating is 12.88 (as of April 18), good for No. 4 on the list behind only Iga Swiatek (13.32), Elena Rybakina (12.97), and Aryna Sabalenka (12.89).
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Collins’ 13 victories earned her two titles, on two surfaces no less – the biggest of her career at the WTA 1000 in Miami on hard courts at the end of March, followed immediately by the WTA 500 Charleston trophy on clay. She now has four WTA titles to her name with her prior two trophies coming in Palermo and San Jose, also back-to-back, in the summer of 2021.
“To be able to physically battle and push myself to a new limit gives me a lot of confidence, and I’ve been so happy to be playing at the level that I’ve been playing, but to be able to back it up two weeks in a row has just been fantastic,” Collins said in Charleston.
In Charleston, Collins took down No. 2 seed Ons Jabeur in the second round, No. 3 seed Maria Sakkari in the semifinals, and No. 4 seed Daria Kasatkina in the final.
Her presence deep in tournaments is no fluke. A two-time NCAA singles champion, the former University of Virginia standout has been a Top 50 player since 2018.
In 2022, Collins reached a career milestone when she appeared in the Australian Open final and later debuted in the WTA Top 10, ultimately hitting a career-high ranking of No. 7.
She started 2023 inside the Top 15 but tumbled to No. 42 after she was unable to defend her Australian Open points with a third-round exit. Her best results last year include making the semifinals at the WTA 500 event in San Diego and reaching the WTA 1000 Montreal quarterfinals as a qualifier.