MONTREAL, Canada — Most players are locked into competitive mode the moment they enter a tournament, calling for a special focus on training, recovery and game play.
Danielle Collins isn’t most actresses.
Collins and his new coach, Jared Jacobs, took a timeout to take a timeout after winning three back-to-back games in the qualifiers to earn the main draw spot at the Omnium Nationale Banque. Barbie.
“I loved it,” Collins said. “I’m not a big movie critic, but I think the characters and the plot were excellent, and I thought everything the Barbie movie represented was great.”
“Growing up playing with Barbies, I could really relate to Strange Barbie. She was my doll.”
Montreal: Scores | Draw | order of play
Collins arrived in Montreal on 48th and was looking forward to the matches. His skilled campaign was a boon. Under her belt, beating Eugenie Bouchard and Emina Bektaş, she competed in the main draw to make her first WTA 1000 quarterfinals since 2022 Miami. Elina Svitolina defeated Maria Sakkari and Leylah Fernandez without set.
“For most of my career, I’ve traveled alone without my coach and had some success doing it,” Collins said, “but it was so great that Jared was part of my team and there for me and it helps me improve my game and develop mentally. .
“I feel like everything he brought to the table and held me accountable really helped me get better results on the pitch.”
Collins thanks Jacobs for his tactical acumen and solid insight into data and analytics. He trusts his game plan and appreciates his willingness to take things lightly.
“I feel like we both really like tennis, but we also like to do other things,” Collins said. We love going to see the movie “We love bowling. Barbie.” Pedicure, sometimes we go and get our nails done.
“We’ve had a lot of great adventures. We control things in the city. It’s a really nice balance and then we’re very focused on the field.”
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Collins will have less than 24 hours to prepare for his fight against No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals. The duo shared the two matches they completed. Collins won his biggest match to date by beating Swiatek in straight sets in the 2020 Australian Open semifinals. Swiatek got his revenge with a decisive win in Doha earlier this year.
Swiatek and Collins may have different personalities, but they have one important thing in common: their racquets. Earlier this year Collins switched from Babolat to Technifibre after taking a chance.
“I actually tried one of the rackets on the rack and went into a game and played with it and it was great,” Collins said. “I immediately clicked the paddle.
“They were very helpful. Yesterday I had a silly hiccup and ran out of rope. Today I didn’t have enough rope for the rackets and the Tecnifibre team was using the rope. At the end of the night so the rangers could string my rackets.”
A relaxed, happy and confident Collins has historically proven to be dangerous. If he can beat Swiatek, he will advance to his first WTA 1000 semi-final since 2018 and his biggest semi-final since making the Australian Open final three years ago.
It’s a daunting task, but Collins was eager to take on it. And he has the confidence to know that the first hit game is just the kind of tennis that can put Pole under.
“I’ve played Iga twice now,” Collins said. “The first time went better than the second time, so I crossed my fingers to bring in my A-game and put on a good show for everyone.
“It’s been a great week and I’ve had a lot of games. So, yeah, I’m hoping to level up.”
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