MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Danielle Collins said reaching last year’s Australian Open final gave her the belief she can compete with the best in the game but the American rarely has time to reminisce about her fairytale run at Melbourne Park.
Collins, who is seeded 13th and opens her campaign against Anna Kalinskaya on Monday, has “wonderful memories” of last year’s tournament, where she lost to home favourite Ash Barty in her first Grand Slam final.
“Really gave me a lot of confidence within my game knowing that I can beat top players, make it that far in a Slam, handle pressure pretty well,” she said.
“To be honest it’s just not something I think about much because, I mean, I’m not totally consumed with my tennis. I have other things outside of the tennis going on in my life that are kind of keeping me entertained.”
Collins said being in the right “head space” was key to going so far at last year’s tournament, where she beat Alize Cornet in the quarter-finals before seeing off Iga Swiatek to advance to the final.
“I had some challenges during the entire tournament,” Collins said. “But I was able to play some of my best tennis, be able to problem solve.
“I think just the head space I was in mentally to be able to work through those things, I think that’s what ultimately kind of led me to getting as far as I did in the tournament.”
Her performance in Australia was part of a strong start to the 2022 season, which saw Collins rise to as high as seventh in the world rankings.
The Florida native, now ranked 14th, is not giving too much thought about another potential run to the final.
“I don’t really look at the draws,” she said. “No matter what draw you have you have to win your matches.
“It doesn’t matter who you play, especially at this level, the depth is so strong across the board on the women’s side.”
(Reporting by Michael Church in Hong Kong, Editing by Peter Rutherford)
