WTA: Danielle Collins in Indian Wells on the trail of Steve Johnson

Danielle Collins is one of the surprises at the WTA Premier 5 Tournament in Indian Wells. The 24-year-old has so far celebrated her greatest successes at university level.

When the language in the USA comes to local development in European popular sport football, experts often cite the lack of a club system comparable to that in Europe as the reason for the stagnation of the US-Americans. The sport education takes place through the schools, later through college, hardly as usual in a club around the corner. What applies to all team sports.

Tennis is basically an exception to this rule, in most cases it is the initiative of players (and especially their parents) who are responsible for the entry into professional sports. Kevin Anderson and Steve Johnson, for example, have impressively demonstrated on the ATP tour that it also works through school. Danielle Collins is about to do the same with her male colleagues in Indian Wells.

Collins is only 24 years old (or, depending on her point of view: already) and with her success against Sofya Zhuk from Russia, she is not only already in the eighth-finals of the WTA Premier 5 tournament, but will also enter the double-digit range for the first time in the next edition of the world ranking list.

Collins has rendered outstanding service to the University of Virginia in recent years, winning twice the National Women’s Championship. In Indian Wells, the US-American shakes up the women’s field, and Alizé Cornet’s task in round one against Alizé Cornet had the potential to be too difficult. After a victory against Magdalena Rybarikova and Zhuk, Carla Suarez Navarro, who won against Elina Svitolina, is now surprisingly waiting.

The counter-draft to Collins is the only 16-year-old Amanda Anisimova, who is already proving herself today against Karolina Pliskova. Anisimova did not leave a set in her first three matches, but finished the winning streak of Petra Kvitova on Sunday. And in the end, it is not suspicious to pursue a university career.

A little over a year ago, Catherine “Cici” Bellis was faced with this decision and had actually decided to study at Stanford University. As head of the tennis department, Lele Forood runs a strict regime there, and the legendary US tennis coach has also taken care of Caroline Dolehide during her debut on the WTA tour in Stanford in the summer of 2017. Bellis, however, has decided in favour of professional tennis – and has already made it into the top 50 players in the WTA charts. Danielle Collins is on the right track.