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Danielle Collins is one of the best representatives of the collegiate tennis route translating into a successful professional career as exemplified by her impressive rise in ranking from World No.71 to World No.15 within two months earlier this year.
The American started her collegiate tennis journey with the University of Florida before taking a transfer to the University of Virginia after her freshman year wherein she won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) singles titles in 2014 and 2016.
Additionally, Danielle Collins ended her collegiate career by winning the prestigious Honda Sports Award, an honour presented to the top women athletes in the sport sanctioned by the NCAA and is synonymous with being "the best of the best in collegiate athletics."
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Joining the likes of other tennis players like Ben Shelton and John Isner among others,Danielle Collins, despite the lack of a major Grand Slam title, has a range of accolades and WTA titles to her name.
Danielle Collins' Collegiate tennis career
Danielle Collins started her collegiate tennis journey with the University of Florida where she won 24 singles matches and lost eight before transferring to the University of Virginia where she established an impressive 101-20 win-loss record.
Additionally, Collins also won the NCAA singles titles in 2014 and 2016, the former making her the first Virginia Cavalier to win the title and the latter making her the seventh two-time champion. Similarly, as 2016 marked her final year in the collegiate tennis circuit, the American ended it as the top-ranked player in the USA.
Speaking about her experience in Virginia and the impact it had on her tennis career, Danielle Collins said (via Tennis.com):
“Virginia was awesome because I loved the coaches, and they really loved me...They really pushed me the way I needed to be pushed and wanted to be pushed."
She added, “It was the perfect fit for me. They were very hands-on, and for me, making the transition from high school to college, you kind of need that.”
While after enrolling, many tennis players have abandoned the collegiate tennis route to pursue the sport professionally, Danielle Collins has had a relatively illustrious career in the sport and credited the academic route with building her physical and personal strength as a tennis player.
Speaking about how the collegiate tennis route worked well for her, Collins shared her views on the same at the Served With Andy Roddick Podcast and said:
"For me, it (college tennis) was the best thing, because I wasn't physically or emotionally like mature enough or old enough to be a professional tennis player. I didn't have the self-confidence in myself," Collins said (at 59:38).
"I'm really grateful that I had those years to kind of mature and develop like a strong resilience, because you have to have a thick skin in this sport," she added.
Collegiate Tennis for a better pro career: The debate
After an impressive college tennis career, Danielle Collins went on to have a decent professional career as well, winning four WTA titles and a doubles title. She also has an Australian Open runner-up finish to her name.
Earlier this year, Danielle Collins won the Miami Open which marked her first WTA 1000 title and WTA Charleston Open clay court title, and with the 13-match win streak, Collins became the first woman since Serena Williams in 2013 to triumph in both Miami and Charleston.
The year 2024, therefore, marked a rise in the ranking for Collins and even though the American declared it to be her final year on the international circuit, her performance so far is surely worth taking note of.
However, taking Collins' journey into account, while the collegiate tennis route might work our some aspiring tennis players, it is hard to generalise it as the correct route for all.
Many who took the collegiate route left it midway to pursue a professional career instead of investing time in college and playing tennis through the same as exemplified by names like Ben Shelton and, further back in time, Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe who spent at least a year in college before deciding to drop the same midway and turning pro.
On the other hand, some, in fact most of the biggest name of tennis including the Big Three - Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and the William Sisters, stepped foot into the international circuit without gaining any collegiate experience beforehand.
Therefore, there are quite a few names who dedicated all, or a major chunk of their time and energy on tennis, rather than dividing the same between academics and the sport they wish to pursue in the long run.
However, it would not be wrong to say that the collegiate tennis route is picking up as exemplified by last year's US Open where according to USA Today, the men's singles draw saw 20 collegiate tennis alums and around seven in the women's category from different parts of the world.
Like Collins, British tennis player Cameron Norrie is another example of a successful college tennis career translating to a vibrant professional career. The former World No.8 played collegiate tennis at the University of Texas before turning pro.
While the collegiate route has definitely helped many tennis players have a successful professional career and the trend is very well picking up, the balance that a tennis player manages to strike and the route he/she chooses in order sto pursue a sport is a rather personal call.
Nevertheless, there are quite a few names exemplifying both sides of the coin - those who had a succesful career without going to college and those who decided to take the academic route before turning pro, the former outnumbering the latter at present.
