How ex-AFL player Tom Couch is guiding the fortunes of American tennis star Danielle Collins ahead of Australian Open

Ex-AFL rookie Tom Couch isn’t only dating US star Danielle Collins, but training her. It’s no surprise then that her Australian Open prep has involved footy.

Tom Couch and Danielle Collins are a tennis power couple. Picture: Sarah Reed

Koroit is as far away from Florida as you can get.

The small rural town in western Victoria, just down the road from Warrnambool, is certainly not the place you’d expect to find one of the world’s best female tennis players.

But Danielle Collins, a semi-finalist at the 2019 Australian Open, braved a chilly winter’s Saturday to cheer on her boyfriend, Tom Couch.

Couch, the son of Paul, the late Geelong champion and Brownlow Medallist, decided to pull the boots back on with his cousin Will for the Saints in the Hampden League.

“I had never really watched footy before,” Collins recalled this week.”

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“I was a little bit of a fish out of water and spent most of the time trying to figure out what was going on.

“His cousin’s girlfriend helped me out, kept the score and talked me through everything.

“The club was so nice, they gave me a really nice gesture, they gave me a scarf which I still have.

“And I think Tom was the player of the game, he got presented with an award after the game.”

Danielle Collins (right) and Tom Couch. Picture: Instagram

At this point Couch, who played three AFL games with Melbourne in 2012, interjects: “I tried a bit harder because she was there”.

The pair met early in 2019 at the Acapulco Open in Mexico when Couch was working as a fitness trainer for a group of Australian players including Alex de Minaur and Jordan Thompson.

They kept in touch for a couple of months before the relationship progressed and then after the US Open in September it went to another level.

The pair decided to start working together on a professional basis which they both understood was potentially a dangerous move for their romance.

“The thing that has probably made it work so well is that Danielle is so dedicated, disciplined and motivated,” Couch says.

“That makes things so much easier on the relationship and has probably been the key to it all.”

Collins, who is currently ranked No. 46 in the world, praises Couch for helping her through the toughest period of her career after she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.

Her joint pain had got to the point where she was struggling to get out of bed, sometimes sleeping 16 hours a day and was also suffering hair loss.

“It was a bit of scare when I got the diagnosis because for any professional athlete that’s certainly not an ideal situation,” she says.

A radical makeover of her diet – two of her favourite things in milk and cheese were scrapped – plus acupuncture and new medication has Collins confident she is finally on top of things.

The new reinvigorated Collins, 27, showed the tennis world she was back on her game at the last year’s French Open where she made the quarter-finals.

However, Collins and Couch made headlines for other reasons at Roland Garros when the American voiced her disapproval at her entourage during a match.

It ended with Couch getting up and moving which was interpreted as a major meltdown of the relationship.

“Everyone thought we’d broken up after the match and I was like, ‘We’re all good, we’re going on vacation next week’,” Collins said.

Danielle Collins competes ahead of the Australian Open. Picture: David Gray/AFP

“What happened was I was on court and one of my team was moaning and groaning and cussing about my serve.

“It had gone on for a while so I asked Tom to move as I knew he would move to a spot where I didn’t have to listen to this other person complain.”

Couch’s phone started blowing up as the video went viral on social media.

“It was pretty funny but when mum started getting messages from family and friends asking, ‘Is everything OK?’ it ws probably getting a little bit out of control,” he said.

Collins is loving being back in Australia and showed she would again be in the mix after a tight-fought tussle with Serena Williams in the Yarra Valley Classic quarter-finals.

“I always feel like I play my best tennis here,” she says.

And while a trip back to Koroit isn’t planned, a spin down to Torquay for some ocean air is on the cards.