On chicken farm, Danielle Collins embraces “crunchy granola lifestyle”

The Tao of Danielle Collins has taken on new dimensions through what she has called this “bonus” phase of her career. Though the former world No. 7 expected to kick off retirement in 2025, she hasn’t let the change in plans stop her from building the life she’s always wanted.

“Even as a child I wanted to have a little farm with animals,” Collins told me during the BNP Paribas Open last month. “I’m a huge animal lover. This is just the start with the chickens. Once you get chickens, you end up taking on other forms of livestock pretty quickly.

“I’ve embraced this crunchy, granola-girl lifestyle!” she added with a laugh. “I feel very Mother Earth these days.”

To be clear, Collins is still bringing her signature intensity to the tennis court—anyone who tuned into the her 2025 Australian Open campaign are clear that her lighter, brighter spirit still burns with plenty of competitive fire. Her New England chicken farm instead serves as the ultimate getaway from tour life. Evoking memories of her beloved Scottish Highlands, the peaceful surroundings allow her to recharge and reconnect to her passions for sustainability and interior design.

It gives me such joy and purpose to take care of all these creatures. Danielle Collins

“It’s polar opposites,” she told me. “I go from being at a tournament and feeling like I’m on a stage and being so performance-oriented to pulling up weeds in your garden or going into your chicken coop when it floods from melting snow.”

Collins casually pivots into a harrowing story of rescuing her seven chickens (most named after classic TV sitcom characters) from a storm—which became an athletic endeavor all its own.

“I was looking at this lake that sprung up in my coop and thinking, ‘What am I supposed to do with all this water? I’m just a girl!’ But then you get into emergency mode and lay down 400 pounds of sand. It doesn’t matter how fit I am from the tennis court or how many weights I lift or how much running I do, my physical fitness doesn’t prepare me for a project of that scale or magnitude. But I do it to keep their coop dry and safe.

“The purpose you get from taking care of these animals and having them as your pets is so special, especially if you’ve come from a city-living environment the way I did.”

The farm is just one of Collins’ active interior design projects; she’s also in the midst of repairing her Florida home after it incurred damage from Hurricanes Helene and Milton. But the 2022 Australian Open finalist ultimately prefers the more pastoral setting for her growing family—one that already gained a new family member in Crash, an injured dog she rescued off the street during the Miami Open.

“It gives me such joy and purpose to take care of all these creatures,” said Collins, who confirmed she had officially adopted Crash last week.

Once Crash is trained, he will join Collins and dog brother Quincy on the road for camping glamping trips, at home for binge-watches of Baylen Out Loud, and on the farm to help raise the chickens in an environment where nothing (and I mean nothing) goes to waste.

“When you have leftover fruits or vegetables, you give them to your chickens and those are powerful nutrients for them. When you eat their eggs, you compost the shells, and when you clean out the chicken coop, their droppings become compost for your garden to grow those fruits and vegetables!” Collins said, drawing her very own circle of life.

“We’re so disconnected from our food sources,” she continued. “I think, from a health and nutritional standpoint, that’s not great for us, and it also makes us incredibly wasteful. When you’re in an urban environment, it’s so easy to get disconnected from all these things.”

While some would consider this pastoral persona at odds with the brasher “cash checks” ethos captured by her merch line, those who know “Danimal” understand this foray into agriculture is, in fact, a manifestation of all that has ever existed beyond the baseline.

“Even though I’ve been on tour for seven or eight years, people don’t really know who I am! And it’s made me become misunderstood, in a way.

“I hope sharing this part of my life can not only give some insight into what goes on behind the scenes, but also showcase all sides of my spirit.”