Collins happy to be Open crowdâs pantomime villain
Love her or hate her, Danielle Collinsâ pantomime villain persona is here to stay â and, she hopes, about to fund a five-star vacation to the Bahamas.
The fiery American became public enemy No.1 in Melbourne when she gleefully wound up the home crowd following her hard-fought win over local Destanee Aiava on Thursday night.
American 10th seed Collins, runner-up to Ash Barty in 2022, was seething throughout as a parochial crowd in the Kia Arena cheered her errors and double faults â at one point yelling, âShut up!â.
After winning, she cupped her hand to her ear and yelled âHow about that?â
She then blew kisses to the jeering and booing crowd, before slapping her backside, before further winding up the crowd in her on-court interview.
After the match, Collins embraced the interaction.
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âI loved it. Iâve been doing this my whole life,â she said.
âI love playing in a crowd that has energy, regardless of what side theyâre on.
âIâm somebody, too, it kind of just motivates me even more. So itâs kind of a good thing, especially when Iâm not playing that well.
âI think it really helped me in the end. Just helped me concentrate more and challenged me at times. Just, yeah, pushed me through the finish line.
âWhen I finally got momentum, Iâm like, âWell, if Iâm going to be out here for 2½ hours, putting up with all these people, I might as well just take the bigger pay cheque, right?
âI was super happy to do that.â
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Collins made the point that ticket sales would pay for her next holiday.
âOne of the greatest things about being a professional athlete is the people that donât like you and the people that hate you, they actually pay your bills. Itâs kind of a cool concept,â she said.
âObviously, my professional career is not going to last forever. So I just remind myself every day when I have that kind of stuff, theyâre paying my bills.
âEvery person thatâs bought a ticket to come out here and heckle me or do what they do, itâs all going towards the Danielle Collins Fund.
âYeah, bring it on. I love it.
âMe and my group of girlfriends love a five-star vacation.
âI can guarantee you that cheque is going to go towards our next five-star trip, hopefully to the Bahamas.â
Nor does Collins mind if the Australian crowd carries a long memory into her third-round clash with countrywoman and 19th seed Madison Keys.
âAll I have to say is good luck pâing somebody off or getting under the skin of somebody that really doesnât care,â she said.
-AAP
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