Wimbledon star met boyfriend in coffee shop after crashing out of tournament

has opened up about her romantic encounter with her partner in a London coffee shop following an early exit from Wimbledon. The world No. 32 enjoyed her best run at SW19 last year, reaching the second week. But one of her past disappointing losses had a silver lining when her love life took a positive turn, and she's still going strong with her beau.

The American recently reached the quarter-final in Charleston, where she was the defending champion after lifting the trophy in 2024. During her title run last year, her boyfriend Bryan Kipp was spotted cheering her on from the stands and came to the court for her victory photoshoot.

In a candid chat with the Tennis Channel, Collins shared that her partner Bryan had made the journey to North Carolina to support her and recounted their serendipitous meeting.

"He's had a really busy work week," she said. "We have been going out for a while now. We met at a coffee shop in London so that was pretty exciting. I didn't think I would meet someone at a coffee shop.

"Who would have thought? Just after the tournament, Wimbledon. He didn't know anything about tennis, and he didn't know I was a tennis player, which was really nice.

"He was actually a bigger fan of golf and so he said, 'Well I really like golf. I don't really know much about tennis'. And I was like, 'Yes! That's so exciting'.

"It's fun to kind of be around someone that has interests in other things and that's not as familiar with the sport because you get to learn and grow with them and help them."

Collins planned to retire at the end of the 2024 season and went on an incredible farewell run, winning the WTA 1000 in Miami before her Charleston title sweep.

The world No. 32 had been looking forward to spending time with her loved ones in retirement. But she made a U-turn on her decision late last year.

"We haven't had a lot of time on the court for me to like teach him because we just don't find enough time cause we're doing golf and he's also at my matches a lot and he's working," Collins continued.

"But in the future, I'm hoping we'll play like the husband-wife doubles like the USTA, you play for the 'Gold Ball'.

"I explained to him that this is a big deal in the tennis world so hopefully that doesn't tear us apart. He is very competitive. He was a football player at Columbia. Very smart. Engineer major. So, I'm more kind of like the jock in the relationship, and he's definitely more of the cerebral one."