Danielle Collins is having a sensational season, giving herself a daydream for the last year of her professional career. On the eve of Wimbledon, the American tennis player gave an interesting interview to The Telegraph, in which she talked about many issues, including her health and that of women.
Danielle underlined how often, a part of society is too insensitive to women's health. A topic often discussed by many of her other colleagues, in the past, such as Serena Williams. Collin's words, shared with her usual frankness, should make those directly interested reflect to whom they were directed.
"A lot of people are not aware of women's health conditions that can affect their fertility and their lives in general. But I think there's also a part of society that is insensitive and unempathetic when it comes to women's health conditions. I've shared something incredibly vulnerable and then having to deal with a lot of tone-deaf people has been frustrating at times. I find it shocking sometimes when I walk into press conferences and they ask me: What would change your mind about retiring? There's a part of society that is insensitive to women's health conditions. I think for the most part it comes from a good place, from people who want to see me play better tennis," she explained.
In the same interview with The Telegraph, she talked about mental health and the attention that tennis players and, in general, people must pay to avoid incurring problems that could turn out to be serious.
"I still have a really hard time being around large groups of people, I get scared when fans run up to me, throw things at me or touch me because of some scary situations I've been through. Social media opens up so many opportunities for us to connect with fans, at the same time sometimes it gives access to people who aren't doing so well and aren't in a great state of mind. I've had to be very vigilant and cautious in how I conduct my life, to make sure I'm safe. I think sometimes that's come across to fans as a reserved, distant attitude, but the reality is that sometimes I've had to be more careful about what I say and do because I don't want certain people to know where I am, what I'm doing or my daily patterns.
I don't go to many places alone, I always make sure I have security in place, and that's something I think has really affected me personally. For a long time it's been hard to be myself. Sometimes I would question myself and think: What did I do to make this person feel like they could cross normal boundaries?I think our security team at the WTA does a phenomenal job of handling these situations and I'm really grateful for that. They were able to handle it in a way that made me feel safe," she explained.
