Australian Open villain Danielle Collins responds after ‘ugly’ scenes in her third-round exit

Danielle Collins learnt a hard lesson on Saturday night as she departed the Australian Open - and it was one match she was never going to win.

This was one match Danielle Collins was never going to win.

If there’s one lesson every professional athlete needs to understand, it is that you can never beat home town hecklers.

Collins learnt that the hard way after she was sent packing from the Australian Open after a 6-4 6-4 loss to her fellow American Madison Keys on Saturday night but said she harbours no hard feelings or regrets.

“The biggest thing is that nobody got hurt. Maybe some feelings got hurt or things were taken personally, and they probably shouldn’t have been taken personally by the crowd,” Collins said

“I feel like people take life way too seriously sometimes. Somebody was telling me that the average age of people watching and the fans of tennis is like, 65. I think we need to kind of bring some entertainment to the game. I think we can try to make jokes and laugh.

Collins has bowed out of the Australian Open. Picture: AFP

“I don’t have a big ego when it comes to this. Honestly, I don’t care what’s written about me. I don’t care what some guy living in his basement is writing on the internet.

Struggling with a knee injury, she hobbled off the Rod Laver Arena to a chorus of boos after being ruthlessly taunted by sections of the crowd from the moment she arrived on centre court.

Some of the jeering from the spectators was good humoured. But some of it was just ugly.

Collins just bit her lip and stayed quiet, possibly because she didn’t have much to say back after she had lost the match.

Beaten by Australia’s mega popular Ash Barty in the 2022 women’s final at Melbourne Park, Collins has never been a fan favourite in the Victorian capital but she’s copped an absolute roasting this time but said she was OK with it.

“Emotionally this has been so great for me,” Collins said.

“Earlier in my career I was more concerned about what people think. I think I was much more guarded about my personality because I can be fiery and I know that can rub people the wrong way.

Danielle Collins was booed off the court after her loss to Madison Keys at the Australian Open.

But honestly, I doubt she cares.

In her own words: “Good luck getting under the skin of someone who really doesn’t give a..” 🫢

pic.twitter.com/CM8l0gg9il

— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) January 18, 2025

“I never want to hurt someone’s feelings or be disrespectful to someone that I’m competing against, especially the people that I really respect.”

“I’m not perfect. I’m not a perfect person, but I think I definitely in the past used to think about, if I do this, this person might not like me, or if I do that, I don’t want to step on anybody’s toes or I don’t want to share too much about my life because I don’t want to make anybody else feel sad about theirs.

“Maybe with age comes this attitude of, we’re going to be ourselves. I’m going to accept who I am, and I’m going to just, like, go for it.

Collins made plenty of headlines in her time at the Australian Open this year. Picture: AFP

“That’s something I’m really proud of myself is I just have gotten to the point where I really don’t care anymore about what people who aren’t important to me think.”

Her rift with the locals began two days earlier when she got into a petty argument with the crowd after her three-set win over Melbourne-raised star Destanee Aiava.

In her defence, the American probably did not know Aiava’s backstory - how she’d battled depression and self-harm and attacks from online trolls to win her first match at a grand slam.

But the crowd did so, of course, Aiava was a strong sentimental favourite.

Collins didn’t get that, so was highly agitated by the crowd’s support for her opponent.

She criticised the crowd during her on court interview then doubled down at her press conference so she she went out to play Keys, she was prepared for the worst.

Keys proved too strong for Collins. Picture: AFP

“I expected that obviously. That’s fine. Like I said, I really do enjoy playing in these types of environments. It’s what you work so hard for your entire life as a kid. I embraced it,” Collins said.

Asked whether she might be able to kiss and make up with the Aussie crowds who booed her, Collins replied: “I guess that’s up to them, right? At the end of the day whatever happens, happens.

“I’m just trying to have fun. I’m just try to enjoy my life and have fun with it. All my friends on tour knew I was just being me and trying to make humour of the situation.

“Then I had a lot of my friends be like ‘Well, am I getting invited on the yacht ?

“That’s all that matters. At the end of the day you can’t please everybody. The most important thing is your friends and family and what they think.

“Nobody got hurt. That’s the main thing. This is sports. I don’t think the banter is necessarily a terrible thing.”

Follow how all the big moments unfolded in our blog below

Originally published as Australian Open villain Danielle Collins responds after ‘ugly’ scenes in her third-round exit