Collins Shocked To Find Out She Got Villainized Over Sakkari 'Shut Your Mouth' Incident
WTA
Danielle Collins shed some light on the heated altercation between herself and Maria Sakkari at the Canadian Open.
The two players clashed over a ball abuse incident in the early part of the second set of their second-round match in Montreal. Sakkari had smacked the ball in frustration on the ground which bounced straight into the stands where fans were seated.
This prompted a reaction from Collins who berated the Greek to the chair umpire and asked her if she saw the incident. As Sakkari was trying to argue her case that the ball didn't hit anyone, Collins said, 'shut your mouth'.
Eventually, the chair umpire Julie Kjendlie managed to throw cold water on the situation and normalcy ensued. Collins would go on to win that match, and looking back, the American spoke about that incident again and said she got villainized for calling out the Greek's ball abuse incident.
"She almost hit someone, and I got villainized for standing up for them."
Collins credited her coach Jared Jacobs for instilling a duty of care and discipline in her. She says two months ago, she would have been frightened to even speak up because of what other people would be saying behind her back.
"A couple of months ago, I wouldn’t have done that. I would have been too worried about what other people are saying or thinking about me, or judging me."
"I feel like, so much of what Jared has tried to help me with is being my authentic self, what’s important to me and my values, and not being so concerned about the things that I can’t control. I think that’s helped so much to put things into perspective because it’s easy to drift away from that."
Collins made a winning start to her 2023 US Open campaign as she swatted aside Czech teenager Linda Fruhvirtova 6-2, 6-0 to advance into the second where she will play Belgium's Elise Mertens.
