ROLAND GARROS

October 7, 2020

Danielle Collins

Press Conference

S. KENIN/D. Collins

6-4, 4-6, 6-0

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. A tough one today but a career-best run. Your thoughts on how it went down today? Are you feeling that an injury got the best of you there?

DANIELLE COLLINS: Yeah. You know, I think I didn't start off playing the match the way that I would have liked to. I think Sonya was really coming up with some great shots today and playing some of her best tennis.

Unfortunately that wasn't the case for me. I felt like I was kind of a little bit off with my shots. Sometimes just going for it and just wasn't working for me today.

She played well. Obviously there is a physical ailment, but I don't want that to take away from the great tennis that she was playing.

It's nerve-racking because I have had this injury earlier in the year. So when you start feeling something like I did on the court, you know, you get a little bit nervous because it left me out from competing for a couple of months. You know, with COVID, the tournaments stopped, but I wouldn't have been able to play any tournaments from January to June.

So, you know, hopefully when I get the MRI or the imaging done, hopefully it's all good.

But, yeah, it's a little bit nerve-racking since it's a serious injury that I have had before, and it was clearly holding me back a little bit, especially with my movement and serve. It was just very painful.

And I think I was kind of praying for a miracle at the end there, but I gave it all that I had. Yeah, I can walk away saying that I gave it my all.

Q. You have just reached a quarterfinal in a Grand Slam in tough conditions. Not just on the court but off the court, as well. When you reflect on your time at Roland Garros, what are you most proud of?

DANIELLE COLLINS: Yeah, I think I'm most proud of the adjustments that I made. There is a period a little bit before the US Open and obviously US Open/Cincinnati where I didn't have a coach and I was having to do everything on my own. I put in so much hard work, a lot of times by myself, and I'm just proud that I have stuck with this process and I haven't given up, because it's really hard sometimes when, you know, you don't have a consistent support system around you. Luckily I have my family and my boyfriend that are always supporting me.

But it's difficult when you can't find that consistent figure, and so I'm really happy too that we were able to have Nico on board for this tournament on such a short notice, to have a top-10 player, former top-10 player coaching me is really special.

I also haven't had a lot of experience, to be quite honest, playing on the red clay being an American. I do think it's a bit of an adjustment, and I clearly made that adjustment pretty well, and have played some of my best tennis out here.

I can be proud of that and the hard work that I did earlier in the year and late in the year last year, practicing on the clay court in my neighborhood and trying to get more comfortable on the dirt.

Q. With this performance, another deep run in a slam, I know it's tough to go home and have a little bit of an injury cloud but it must give you some confidence that you belong deep in slams and this is something that you can maybe hit the ground running once you get healthy again and once tennis gets back to normal a little bit.

DANIELLE COLLINS: Yeah, definitely. Now I have proven I can do it two times, semifinals in Australia and now quarterfinals here, and I can use that as confidence moving forward.

You know, I certainly hope things can go back to normal, we can play in front of fans and just have our normal day-to-day life. We'll see what happens, but hopefully by the time the Australian Open comes around we'll be in a better place, all of us.

Q. Let's hope that's true. Just a question, I was curious when you were doing the musical chair things with your coach, was that a little bit of a stress relief for you? Was it superstition? I know you maybe don't want to comment on it, but...

DANIELLE COLLINS: No, I don't think so. You mean like going back and just not having a consistent coach or...

Q. I thought you had your physio move, change spots. I thought it was a superstition thing. Just speculating, just curious.

DANIELLE COLLINS: Yeah, I had my boyfriend move to a different spot because I was distracted by something in front of him. I just wanted to be able to look at him from a different location.

Sometimes too when I was serving the ball, I could see my team in the background, and I didn't like that. Actually during the Muguruza match they sat on the side of the court, and then I really didn't like when they were sitting behind the court when I was playing Jabeur.

Yeah, it was just a mental thing, I guess.

Q. You said you gave it all you had at Roland Garros. What are you looking forward to doing when you get back home?

DANIELLE COLLINS: I'm looking forward to my new house (smiling). It's been under renovation for like five months. I'm really looking forward to everything being finished, hopefully.

I heard that the countertops were back-ordered for my kitchen, so hopefully we can get those sooner rather than later, and then everything will be wrapped up.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to doing that. Some other projects in my home, I'm going to be working on my closet space. I'll have to start watching a little bit more HGTV in America, I suppose (smiling).

Q. Question about coaching and Nico. Do you think you'll pursue something with him? In general, do you feel like that's something you lack, having a stability, something really consistent, that type of coach-player relationship?

DANIELLE COLLINS: Yeah, I do think it's something that I have lacked. It was something that I was so fortunate while I was in college I had a consistent coach for three years. And when I'm at home there is a coach that I work with, you know, pretty regularly, but unfortunately he's not able to travel as much on the road. I still consult with both of them about matches, so it's helpful.

But to have a day-to-day person that you build trust in and you're working together with for your goals, I think that's the biggest thing. That's the nice thing about when you play on a team and playing on a college team is you have that consistency, especially not just with coaches but with teammates.

That's been hard. It's been hard to accept at times. Because you said it before, there is a game of musical chairs with people's coaches and switching all of the time, and I really don't enjoy it. Unfortunately I just haven't found the right fit. Sometimes those fits haven't been the best for those people, as well.

Nico and I are doing a trial for a little while longer to just see if it will work out the best for both of us. I'm looking forward to the training weeks that we're going to have in that period and the things that I'm going to get to learn from him on court. Hopefully it can be a consistent thing.