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Danielle Collins reveals there was a time when she had $0 in her pocket and credits going to college for developing as a person and ultimately making it in tennis. Collins, who is 29 years old, had a very successful collegiate career at the University of Virginia as she won the NCAA singles title twice and also finished her career in Virginia as the top-ranked collegiate player.
After a very successful career in college, Collins turned pro in 2016. Since then, Collins has made a very nice career for herself as she is a Grand Slam finalist, has two WTA titles in her collection and has also been ranked as high as No 7 in the world.
According to the WTA website, Collins has earned $6,701,873 in tournament prize money so far in her career.
Collins: At 18 I had $0, now I'm getting to live my dream
"Growing up with two parents that were so hard working and living paycheck to paycheck, I think definitely helped spark an interest in financial literacy and accounting properly.
At 18 years old, I had $0 in my name, I didn’t come from financial opportunity, and knowing that I really felt like the best way to set myself up for success was going to college. It set me up for so much success on and off the court, allowed me to evolve and grow so much more as a person, but also as an athlete.
It gave me the time to physically develop, mentally develop, which was really important, because quite frankly, if I had turned pro at the young age of 16, 17 years old, I was not in a place from a maturity standpoint to be able to have the career that I would have wanted to have.
I’m getting to live my dream doing this and I think my parents are so proud of me and they’ve just been counting their blessings that this has been able to work out for me, the way that it has," Collins said on the latest episode of My Journey | WTA x Morgan Stanley. Collins, the 2022 Australian Open runner-up, didn't win any titles but she was a semifinalist in two tournaments.