'I embraced it': New sponsors clamour to give controversial American 'opportunities' after crowd antics
Danielle Collins has reflected on her whirlwind couple of days at the Australian Open after she enraged the Australian public with her theatrics during her second-round match at Rod Laver Arena.
On Saturday night, Collins was knocked out of the tournament after being defeated by fellow American Madison Keys in straight sets.
Despite all the build-up to the match following Collins' inflammatory comments about the local crowd, the match played out drama-free with the world No.10 departing not with a bang but a whimper.
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Danielle Collins gestures to the crowd as she leaves Rod Laver Arena following third-round defeat to Madison Keys. Clive Brunskill via Getty Images
A break of serve in each set was all Keys needed to prevail in one hour and 23 minutes with Collins hampered by a knee injury that she picked up in the second set.
Walking into enemy territory — Rod Laver Arena — for her third-round match, Collins was met with boos and jeers.
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However, the hostile reception did not seem to faze the former Australian Open finalist as she stepped out with a huge smile before giving the crowd a cheeky wave.
Speaking to media post-match, Collins said she got what she anticipated from the crowd.
"Yeah, I expected that obviously," she said.
"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. I embraced it.
"I thought overall it was good. It got me fired up at times. It got us into the match and got both of us focused."
Asked how she coped with the barrage of attention, Collins dropped a surprising insight into the commercial benefits she was reaping because of it.
"I'm towards the end of my career. It's wonderful that I can capitalise on these opportunities. I think that six different sponsorship opportunities [have] come up from this tournament alone," she said.
"That's a great signal for me. Obviously, like I said, every fan contributes to that. It's been a real blessing."
Collins did not get off to the best start — broken in her opening service game and made to pay for it later as Keys served out the first set.
The 31-year-old settled in the second set and even looked threatening in moments before re-aggravating a knee injury.
"A very different Danielle Collins tonight," commentator Sam Smith told Nine after Keys progressed comfortably through to the round of 16.
Regarding the girls' trip which Collins infamously said she would put the prize money from her second-round match towards, the five-star trip to the Bahamas is gaining momentum among the WTA tour.
"I'm just trying to have fun. I'm just trying 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," Collins said.
"Then I had a lot of my friends be like, 'Well, am I getting invited on the yacht?'.
A lot of the girls on tour were like, 'Well, you're inviting me, right?'.
"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."
