April 2 (UPI) — American tennis player Danielle Collins, who saved a dog that was hit by a car outside the Miami Open, says she wants to buy a donkey to add to her growing fleet of farm animals, which includes seven chickens.
Collins spoke about her budding interest during Tuesday’s Tennis Channel broadcast of the Charleston Open. The 31-year-old tennis star keeps animals at her 2 1/2-acre property in New England.
“My motto has gone, with my merchandise drop, to ‘play tennis, cash checks, rescue animals and give them the bougiest lifestyle possible,'” Collins said.
“That’s my new motto.”
The No. 22 player in the world was on her way home from a win over Rebeka Masarova in the Round of 32 at the Miami Open on March 22 when she spotted an injured German shepherd in the middle of a road near Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.
Collins and her team brought the dog to an animal hospital. It spent five days there before she adopted it to her animal family, which includes her labradoodle, Quincy, and three other dogs. Collins named the dog “Crash Marino Collins,” a nod to the incident and Miami Dolphins legend Dan Marino.
Crash remains in recovery, but is attending boarding school.
“I’m just glad I had the means to be able to help him out and now he’s part of my family,” Collins said. “He’s such a sweet guy.”
Collins, who beat Robin Montgomery on Tuesday at the Charleston Open, named her chickens Laverne, Shirley, Lucy, Ethel, Beauty, Moira and Lobster.
“It’s so different from what I do the rest of the year,” said Collins, who also owns a home in Florida. “To go home and be cleaning the chicken coop and trying to enhance their coop as much as possible, it’s fun. It gives me a lot of purpose and joy.
“I’ll definitely be getting more livestock in the future for sure. A donkey is next. I’ve gotta get a donkey because you’ve gotta protect them [chickens] from the coyotes. I guess that’s the best deterrent. And definitely horses. I love horseback riding. That’s one of my biggest hobbies. I’m gonna have my hands full post retirement.”
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Collins, who said she feeds lobster to some of her chickens, previously planned to retire at the end of last season. She announced in October that she would return to the WTA Tour. She won her first WTA Tour 1000-level title at the 2024 Miami Open.
The Florida native, who owns four WTA singles titles, earned about $9.5 million in prize money during her singles career.
“I just look at it as bonus time, now with all these new hobbies and animals of mine,” Collins said. “Something’s gotta pay the bills right? All the funds are basically going toward their five-star lives.”
Collins, the defending champion at the Charleston Open, will face No. 25 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia or No. 167 Louisa Chirico of the United States in the third round Thursday in Charleston, S.C.
