Wimbledon deny retiring star her dream as Novak Djokovic yet to be relegated
Danielle Collins' Wimbledon wish was ignored ahead of her fourth-round match.
Danielle Collins has been denied her dream of playing singles on Wimbledon’s Centre Court before she retires this year.
The world No. 11 spoke about her “bucket list” goal after beating Beatriz Haddad Maia in her last match. But she has been scheduled on Court 1 for her fourth-round contest with Barbora Krejcikova.
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic has been given main show court billing once again. He is the only top-five player not to be relegated to Court 1 for at least one match so far.
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Collins announced at the beginning of the season that it would be her last on the tennis tour. The American has been open about her battles with endometriosis and rheumatoid arthritis, and her wish to start a family, sparking her decision to retire.
Since then, she has put together an impressive farewell tour, winning the WTA 1000 in Miami and the Charleston Open, and returning to the world’s top 10. Collins has now reached the last 16 at Wimbledon for the first time in her career.
But she has still not been scheduled to play on Centre Court - a wish she shared after her last match. “Yeah, that's a huge bucket lister for me to be able to play on Centre Court in my singles,” the 30-year-old said on Saturday night.
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“I've played on Centre Court before in doubles during my semi-final match here with my friend, Des, who I'm playing Olympics with this year. That was one of my most cherished memories on court being able to play on Centre Court.”
Explaining why it was so important to her, Collins continued: “You watch so much tennis as a kid and see all of these people that you look up to and idolise playing. And when you get to come here as an adult, it's such a surreal experience. It's been such an honour to be able to get to have that experience, but it would be really cool to be able to play singles on that court as well.”
Collins is running out of time to tick it off her list, as this is her last Wimbledon in the women’s singles draw. But she will play last on Court 1 on Monday. And if she wants a shot at the prime slot on Centre, she will need to keep herself alive in the draw and hope that organisers rethink the schedule for the quarter-final.
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One player who has made countless Centre Court appearances is Djokovic. And the world No. 2 is benefitting from being in a more open half of the draw as he has now been given the main stage for all four matches in 2024. Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev are all in the top half of the draw and have had to alternate between Centre, Court 1 and Court 2.
Alexander Zverev, the No. 4 seed and second-highest player in Djokovic’s bottom half, has also already played on the second showcourt. But the seven-time champion has a blockbuster meeting with Holger Rune in the fourth round which has understandably been Centre Court billing last on Monday.