OMNIUM BANQUE NATIONALE

August 11, 2023

Danielle Collins

Press Conference

D. COLLINS/L. Fernandez

6-2, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations, Danielle. Good victory tonight. Just give us your overall assessment of the match.

DANIELLE COLLINS: Yeah, a little bit different tempo playing against a lefty today and especially playing against a Canadian here in Montreal. Not the easiest conditions, but I think I really thrive in that type of environment.

I think early on getting through some of those long, tough points really helped me kind of get some momentum going and rhythm. Then it was kind of full control from there, I think.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You looked invincible tonight after your wins against Svitolina, Sakkari. Do you feel like that?

DANIELLE COLLINS: Yeah, I mean, I said last week after I lost in D.C., I really just need to get more matches and time on the court, and I certainly got that in the qualifying playing two hard three-set matches and now feeling really in rhythm.

I feel like this year, you know, partly because I play a shortened schedule, sometimes I go into the tournaments where I haven't played a lot, and I can do really well, and other times it's hard to kind of get that match momentum.

That's really been key is just getting more matches. I've been working so hard at my game over the last couple of years, and sometimes it takes a little bit of time to kind of see those results. I think that's certainly what is happening.

I mean, I think as well for so much of my career, as everyone knows, I traveled by myself without a coach, and I had a little bit of success doing that, but I think it's been huge having Jared a part of my team and being there for me and helping me evolve my game and evolve mentally.

I feel like all of the things that he's been bringing to the table and holding me accountable for is really helping me get some better results on the court.

Q. You mentioned not the ideal conditions. Do you mean the delayed start or more the fact that crowd was pretty raucous?

DANIELLE COLLINS: Yeah, I think a little bit of both. It's never easy when you play against a home crowd favorite. I think it definitely helps the person when they're from here and have a lot of fans, understandably so.

Also, with the weather I think was a little bit tricky because on the days where you really don't know when you're going to play, it's hard to know when you're going to go on and just trying to physically prepare for that.

We didn't get to have a warmup today, and I don't think Leylah did either. So that was why we had the longer warmup, which was nice, but it kind of -- sometimes with the inclement weather challenges, it's difficult because it messes up your routine a little bit.

So I think that was kind of one of the things that I kind of had to move on from, and I was able to do that. Lucky, I think because of how much court time, I didn't really need to spend that much time on the court, so that was good.

Q. Danielle, I just wanted to ask you about the physical tennis balls themselves because there was a change made this hard court season. I'm wondering, did you participate in that vote? I think all of the WTA players did, but are you noticing a difference with the balls? I've heard some of the other players mention that maybe they were regretting that decision to make the change. How do you feel about it?

DANIELLE COLLINS: Yeah, I mean, I think ideally for me I would like to play with the same ball each surface. I know that's not always reasonable, and we do the best we can.

I think with the regular duty balls, I'm not 100% sure on this, but I feel like a lot of times they can wear down a little bit quicker, so it's really necessary for those ball changes.

I feel like with the extra duty balls they hold a little bit more of the air, I guess, and so I think it's better, but everybody has their preferences.

I played with the extra duty balls in college, and I always liked them. In practice we tend to use extra duty balls, so I don't know.

I mean, you just have to kind of adjust to those things. And they're little differences, but for professional athletes it does make a big difference, so I can understand why people feel one way or another.

Q. Just in terms of your preparation and you said working with Jared and how your game is evolving, how much of that is changing the intensity with respect to kind of how you're training? How much of it is still, though, striking that balance of having a good time, which I know that you've talked about as well in the past. How are you striking that balance these days?

DANIELLE COLLINS: Yeah, I mean, I think the great thing about Jared is obviously we work so hard at my game, but I think having the balance off the court, to be able to talk about a lot of other things and having a great companion on the road because I think all of the players, we're traveling with people, and we're with them all the time.

So it's really important that you have a good friendship, and I think that's definitely there. It definitely builds trust.

I know I can trust Jared with strategy, and I can trust him tactically, technically. So I think that's one of the most important things when you are looking for a coach is having that kind of camaraderie together because this is an individual sport, but I think having some type of a team vibe going is really important.

But, yeah, I feel like we balance it really well. I feel like both of us really love tennis, but we also like doing other things. We like bowling (laughing). We like going to see the "Barbie" movie. Pedicures. Yes, we go and get our nails done sometimes.

We've had a lot of great adventures. We go to museums. We check things out in the city. It's really a nice balance, and then when we were on court, it's so focused.

Jared does a great job, too, getting all of the data and the statistics, and I think that is so, so helpful for both of us having full confidence with the facts and having that outlined for us before matches. So, yeah, all kudos to Jared.

Q. You will face Iga next round, so what will be the keys for you to success this match?

DANIELLE COLLINS: Yeah, I've played Iga I think twice now. The first time went better than the second time, so just fingers crossed that I bring my A-game and put on a good show for everyone.

It's been a great week, and I've had a lot of matches. So, yeah, I'm hoping to keep the level up.

We're going to go home tonight and do some homework and sit down. We've been taking it one match at a time and not really looking too far ahead. So we need to do our homework.

Q. You're playing with a Tecnifibre racket these days. I'm wondering when you made that change, and I guess why? I think it's the same racket Iga uses. I'm not sure, but it looks like it.

DANIELLE COLLINS: Yeah, I made the switch a couple of months ago, and it's been awesome. It's been so much fun working with the Tecnifibre team. They have gone above and beyond helping me with everything from customized specs and making modifications as needed.

I actually tried one of the rackets off of the shelf, and I just went into a match and played with it, and it was great. I clicked with the racket right away.

They have been so helpful. Yesterday I had kind of a silly hiccup, and I ran out of string. I didn't have enough string for the rackets today, and the Tecnifibre team was on it, 10:45 p.m.

They made sure that string was here by the end of the night so that the stringers could string my rackets. So it's really awesome, the racket, but also being a part of such a wonderful group that is really pulling for me and looking out for me.

I think it's so important in this individual sport, and it definitely feels like a little bit of a family, so I really, yeah, had to give them a shout-out because I thought that was pretty spectacular that they helped the way that they did last night with the string because I was going to have to ask some friends for some help, and luckily it didn't get to that, so...

Q. Can I just ask you what you thought of the "Barbie" movie?

DANIELLE COLLINS: I loved it, yeah. I'm not a big movie critic, but I just think the characters and the plot was excellent, and everything that the Barbie movie stood for, I just thought it was so great.

So, you know, growing up playing with Barbies too, yeah, I could really relate to weird Barbie. That was my doll (laughing).