WATCH: Fan Removed After Harassing Collins And Calling Umpire Racist

Danielle Collins was left distressed during her match at the 2025 Citi Open in Washington by a spectator, who was eventually ejected from the stadium after making a startling remark.

Collins is one of the fieriest competitors on the WTA Tour. Many love watching the 2022 Australian Open runner-up because of her competitive spirit, and are inspired by how authentic she is during matches.

Unfortunately, successful female athletes, especially those with prominent personalities, are prone to being made uncomfortable by men online or when they are competing. That happened to Collins in Washington.

The American made a positive start against Magda Linette on the John A Harris Grandstand by winning the opening three games. During the changeover at that score, the spectator, who had been shouting before that as well, began to make Collins very uncomfortable.

While Collins tried to relax before the umpire called time, the fan shouted repeatedly at her, as can be seen at the start of the video below. Those in the stands giving encouragement is usually good, but the man's tone clearly overstepped the mark.

Umpire Jennifer Zhang intervened and asked him to stop. He pleaded his innocence, arguing that he was supporting Collins, but the umpire remained firm and said she wanted to focus on playing.

The man then shockingly said, "I knew you was a racist when I saw you on TV." His unexpected remark seemed to be directed at Zhang, who is Chinese, and not at Collins.

After that appalling moment, he immediately shouted more words at Collins as she got up to play again. The uncomfortable look on the 31-year-old's face was evident by that point.

Zhang, one of the most experienced umpires in the game, showed excellent judgment after the man's comment and how distressed he was making Collins by asking security to remove him from the stadium.

It took a while for security, who might have assumed there would be no trouble at an evening match not played on the biggest court, to eject the man, but they eventually did. He went quietly without causing any more issues.

Collins took a bit of time to compose herself before resuming. The 2024 Miami Open champion went on to lose the match 5-7, 4-6 after struggling with an injury that led to her having off-court treatment in the second set.

This incident is just a few days after Collins spoke about how a cameraman tried to kiss her after a defeat. It is deplorable that female athletes have to be worried about being treated like that while they do their job.

At February's Dubai Championships, Emma Raducanu hid behind the umpire's chair in her match against Karolina Muchova after seeing a man who had stalked her throughout the Middle East swing. It took the Briton a while to get over that incident.

Hopefully, there are no more incidents like that in Washington, and the focus can be on positives like Venus Williams, who recently talked about Serena Williams making a comeback, playing on the WTA Tour for the first time in 16 months.