WATCH: Danielle Collins Heavily Booed After Wild Celebration At Australian Open
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Danielle Collins is known for her unique personality and authenticity. However, the American's reaction to beating home favorite Destanee Aiava at the Australian Open was remarkable even by her standards.
Collins already caused controversy this season at the United Cup when she refused to look Iga Swiatek in the eye when shaking hands before Team USA's final against Poland. She then changed her Instagram profile picture to her facial expression during the incident.
That came a few months after Collins directed heated words toward Swiatek at the Paris Olympics. The 31-year-old accused the four-time French Open champion of being insincere when she asked about the injury that forced her to retire from their quarterfinal.
Collins had to battle hard to beat Destanee Aiava on the Australian Open's Kia Arena. Aiava won her first Grand Slam main draw match against Greet Minnen in the last round from 2-5 down in the second set and 3-5 in the third after becoming inspired by her home fans.
The Australian received vociferous support again against Collins. After a hard-fought battle, the 2022 runner-up in Melbourne eventually prevailed 7-6, 4-6, 6-2. However, the higher-ranked player did not like the crowd's actions during the match.
Collins clearly felt the crowd's support for Aiava drifted into disrespect of her. There were undeniably cases of the Kia Arena crowd cheering double faults and unforced errors from the 10th seed, which seemed uncalled for.
Last year's Miami Open champion is one of the fieriest competitors on the WTA Tour, and she showed it with her reaction in a video released by the Australian Open's X page that can be viewed below.
After securing the point that confirmed victory, Collins cupped her left ear and shouted, "Come on then!" to the Australian fans. That was followed by cupping her right ear to taunt the spectators on the other side of the arena.
Collins did not back down during the on-court interview after the fans booed her throughout it. She thanked the fans for paying for her prize money and said she and team member CoCo Vandeweghe might use it for a five-star vacation.
"I was thinking during the match, 'If I'm out here, I might as well take that big fat paycheck'. Coco and I love a good five-star vacation. So that check is gonna go towards that. So thank you guys! Thanks for coming out here and supporting us tonight."
Her comments were similar during an interview with ESPN. Collins said she was determined to take home the bigger paycheck for winning while playing in the hostile atmosphere and thanked Australia for the money.
"Yeah, it was a tough crowd. I figured if I'm gonna be out here, I better take home that bigger paycheck. So, yeah, thanks for the paycheck, Australia."
Collins also made another notable remark during her press conference after the victory. She came close to swearing while explaining that nothing bothers her before being asked not to by a tournament official in the room.
Collins: "Good luck getting under the skin of somebody that doesn't give a... Can I say it?"
Official: "Don't say it."
While Collins' actions angered some, others love her authenticity. The rest of her matches, starting against Madison Keys in the next round, will be fascinating to watch.
