DANIELLE COLLINS QUOTES (7/29)
On the atmosphere of an Olympic Games
“It’s one of the coolest atmospheres that I’ve played in. I’ve played a lot of Billie Jean King Cup matches. I’ve never played in the Olympics [before], and then one of the things that’s so special about the Olympics is like, you’re walking around here and people aren’t necessarily here for a specific player, but they’re here for the country. I think that’s so special. It was really cool seeing the fan base, you know, that Caro has created over the course of her career, and so many Danish people here to support her, but also so many Americans, too, in the crowd that I’m sure traveled a long, long way to get here. So that really meant a lot. Thinking about COVID, in 2020 and 2021 when we didn’t have a lot of fans, that was a really challenging time for a lot of people, for the fans, for us as athletes. It’s one of the most special things you get to experience as an athlete is being able to have so many people here supporting you. It gives me chills when I get to play in that type of atmosphere. It’s so cool.”
On the experience of playing the Olympics in her farewell year
“I’ve experienced a lot, experienced most things on the tennis tour, and then today I experienced a new type of environment, which was really, really cool. I’m just so glad that I ended up becoming an Olympian and getting to have this experience, because there’s so many things that I’ve learned from this tournament, so many new traditions here at the Olympics that make it so, so special. I got the Denmark pin, by the way. We’ve been trading the pins back and forth. That’s been really cool. I guess I didn’t really know what to expect going in. It wasn’t that I thought that it was going to be just like any other tournament. I knew that the Olympics is incredibly special, but the different traditions that you don’t get to have at the other tournaments, I think, too, has opened up my mind and it’s been like, ‘Wow! That’s been so cool. Just meeting and connecting with athletes from all around the world that you wouldn’t get to meet otherwise, so that’s been really cool.”