Paula Badosa emotional after Simona Halep loss, Danielle Collins pays tribute to Bianca Andreescu - Madrid Open diary

Collins epitomises the ‘women supporting women’ movement When Danielle Collins reached the Australian Open final in January, the American did not have an agent, a clothing sponsor or a coach. Ad/> Fast-forward three months and she has signed with IMG Tennis and is being represented by Serena Williams’ agent Jill Smoller, alongside Matt Fawcett.

WTA Madrid‘They pretend like nothing is going on’ — Kostyuk hits out at fellow pros over Ukraine ‘excuses’AN HOUR AGO Smoller has nearly three decades of experience as an agent and has worked with a host of stars including Florence Griffith Joyner and Kevin Garnett, and has been a long-time pillar in Serena Williams’ camp. Collins, who is a very vocal supporter of women in tennis and sport in general, was particularly interested in working with Smoller as one of the very few female agents in tennis and says it’s “an honour” to team up with her.

“That was one of the reasons I really wanted to work with her,” Collins told Eurosport ahead of her upcoming Madrid Open third round against Bianca Andreescu. “After Australian Open, we kind of went down a list of different agents that I might be interested in working with and to be honest I wasn’t really interested in working with anyone but Jill and that is because of her character, her loyalty to her clients, and obviously her achievements over the years.

“I think all of the deals she’s negotiated for various athletes and entertainers it speaks for itself. She gets it from the tennis side, being a former player.