Collins embraces crowd boos during wild Australian Open match

MELBOURNE, Australia — When American world No. 10 Danielle Collins retires from tennis, she may have a future in professional wrestling after facing a hostile crowd during her second-round victory at the Australian Open. Australia.

Facing Australia’s last hope in the women’s draw, Destanee Aiava, in the final match on what has become a bit of a party ground at the Kia Arena, hot favorite Collins was taunted every time she made a mistake. mistake and was mocked when she made a double fault. , while the Australian almost created a major surprise.

But after scoring a 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-2 victory to secure his place in the third round, Collins decided to have a little fun with the crowd, blowing them kisses, asking them to make more noise, and even slapping his butt towards the crowd.

Next, Collins faced the on-field interview. Although it started off normally, she started getting booed, so she grabbed the microphone – in WWE style – from the interviewer and taunted the Australian fans some more.

“You know, I was thinking during the game, I was like, ‘Hmm, if I’m here, I might as well take this big paycheck,'” Collins said.

“(My friend Coco Vandeweghe) and I love, we love a good five-star vacation, so part of this check will go toward that, so thank you guys, thank you for coming out and supporting us tonight.”

In a post-match interview with ESPN, Collins doubled down, saying it was a “pretty incredible” feeling to be able to win against a belligerent crowd.

“I’m definitely someone who needs to have a little fire under my ass, and I feel like all of this motivates me to do better,” she said.

“It’s a pretty amazing feeling as an athlete, because the people who hate you or hate you pay your bills, so it’s a really rewarding feeling. “Thanks for the pay, Australia.”

She later reposted the video of her celebrations on her Instagram account, with Taylor Swift’s song “Look what you made me do” over the top.

A little more circumspect in her post-match press conference, Collins said she enjoyed embracing the ups and downs of the tennis circuit, admitting she knew she would face the crowd to attempt to promote local hope.

“I mean, look, Destanee is from here. I think they really wanted her to win. I think there were a lot of people who were super drunk and having trouble controlling themselves and were really excited,” she said.

“Obviously my professional career is not going to last forever. So I remind myself every day when I have this stuff, they pay my bills.

“Every single person that bought a ticket to come here and heckle me or do whatever they do, it all goes to the Danielle Collins Fund. Yeah, go for it. I love it.”

With her second-round victory, Collins is guaranteed a $180,000 (A$290,000) payday even if she loses her next match against fellow American Madison Keys. The 31-year-old said she knew exactly what she would spend the money on.

“My group of girlfriends and I love five-star vacations. I can guarantee this check will go towards our next five-star trip, hopefully to the Bahamas,” she joked. “We like big boats, we like big boats, we like yachts. We’ll post about it and let you know how it goes.”

Does Collins mind playing the bad guy?

“All I have to say is good luck pissing someone off, putting myself in the shoes of someone who doesn’t care… can I say that?” she laughed.