Miami Tournament | Danielle Collins: finishing in style at the peak of her career

Danielle Collins had already announced at the start of the year that the 2024 season would be the last of her career. A decision she might regret, as the 30-year-old athlete is playing her best tennis ever.

Hardly anyone would have bet on a Collins triumph at the prestigious Masters 1000 in Miami. However, after a tough duel and above all a fourth championship ball, it was she who won the last point of the final played against Elena Rybakina in the Dolphins stadium on Saturday, with a score of 7-5 and 6-3.

This victory is special for many reasons. First, because it occurs in the heart of the champion’s farewell tour. Eager to start a family, Collins has chosen to hang up her racket in the coming months. Then, because Collins won top honors in his home state of Florida. She became the first American since Sloane Stephens in 2018 to win the second Sunshine Double tournament. Finally, no matter what happens to the rest of his career, no one will be able to take away this Masters 1000 title, his first ever.

And that’s why no one expected him until the final. Fifty-third player in the world rankings, Collins had been playing in the background since her final at the Australian Open in 2022. She had only won two titles on the WTA circuit, during the 2021 season.

She had the unfortunate habit of crashing against the best players. Her game, less polished than that of her most important rivals, and her attitude, sometimes difficult to manage, harmed her in her rise to the highest peaks of women’s tennis. Earlier this year, she lost twice to Iga Świątek and once to Rybakina, in the round of 16 in Abu Dhabi.

It’s impossible to know if it’s down to the energy of desperation or simply the quality of the shots of a mature 30-year-old player, but Collins was gigantic not only in this final lasting more than two hours, but during the entire duration of the tournament.

“This tournament was a lot of challenges as I played against some of the best players in the world,” she admitted before finally being able to lift her trophy.

Since the start of the fortnight, she has scored victories against Anastasia Potapova (30), Elina Avanesyan, Sorana Cîrstea (19), Caroline Garcia (23), Ekaterina Alexandrova (14) and finally Rybakina, who had won three of their four previous clashes.

In the trenches

Collins did what was necessary to win. She was a monster of precision, efficient on serve with 75% of points won in the first ball, even if her low rate of 45% in the second ball put her in trouble on a few occasions. Above all, she performed with dignity in crucial moments.

Of the 21 games played during the meeting, nine required a tiebreaker. And it was during these nine games that Collins gave his full measure. Surprising conclusion, because she was facing a Grand Slam tournament champion used to navigating through these stormy moments. On the first two break points the American faced in the first set, she catapulted an ace, followed by a service winner. Twice on Rybakina’s forehand, the Kazakh’s real weakness in the match, who experienced ups and downs in return of service. Collins saved two more on the same play.

The champion, far from necessarily impeccable, won her third career title mainly by keeping a cool head in long rallies and surviving numerous break points. She notably saved three in the seventh game of the second set to make it 4-3. And two during his last serving sequence for the championship.

At the same time, her rival almost let her slip away to victory by losing 10 of the 11 break points served to her.

Rybakina’s return

This does not detract from the merit of the former double national champion at the University of Virginia, but her opponent was not a shadow of herself during this final.

Rybakina went above and beyond to reach this final, eliminating María Sákkari (8) and Victoria Azarenka (27) in the quarter-finals and semi-finals.

The 2022 Wimbledon champion struggled at the start of the match. She started to be more aggressive, go to the net more and build her points better only in the middle of the first set. Meanwhile, driven by all her motivation and momentum, Collins was already on pace and the delay was impossible to make up for.

Rybakina broke on the third break point she faced in the final game of the set to give Collins a clear advantage from which she was never able to recover.

In the second set, the fourth racket in the world was unrecognizable in return of serve and his efficiency on backhands had nothing to do with his usual success rate. His accumulation of avoidable errors and his lack of technical benchmarks were fatal to him.

Finalist at this same tournament last year, Rybakina was the favorite to win this match. It would have been his third triumph of the year after victories in Brisbane and Abu Dhabi.

It was already a fourth final in 2024 for the 24-year-old athlete. “It shows that I have consistency in my game. Especially being in the final here two years in a row,” she said after the match.

Despite everything, the last few months have been complex for her. She suffered an arm injury at the end of last season and stomach problems forced her to withdraw from the Dubai and Indian Wells tournaments in the final weeks. We will never know if she was 100% for this Florida final, but a victory would certainly have allowed her to get back on the radar of tennis fans.

Barely a year ago, the Big Three women seemed cemented with the successes of Iga Świątek, Aryna Sabalenka and Rybakina. However, a slowdown for the Kazakh as well as conflicts with the organizations of certain tournaments and the rise of the Americans Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula have taken her out of the picture a little.

Rybakina is on a good run and another appearance in the final will certainly not hurt to make her comeback a reality. However, it will take some time to confirm that she is really healthy, and above all, capable of performing again in the biggest events on the circuit.