Danielle Collins thanks booing Australian Open crowd for ‘big fat pay cheque’ after beating home hopeful

On By Littum

Danielle Collins thanked a hostile crowd at the Australian Open to help fund her next holiday after beating her last home hope in the women’s draw.

Collins beat Destanee Aiava 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-2 to set up a third-round meeting with American compatriot Madison Keys.

As the crowd booed her as she took the microphone for her post-fight interview, she told them she was thinking about the “big fat pay check” en route to the win.

“Coco and I love a good five-star holiday,” said seed no. 10 with reference to CoCo Vandeweghe. “So some of that control goes to that. So thank you for coming out here and supporting us tonight.”

At the end of the first set, Collins blew kisses to the crowd while seated before repeating the trick at the end of the match.

“Thanks guys, love you,” she said walking off the field.

Later in her post-fight press conference, she added, “One of the biggest things about being a professional athlete is the people who don’t like you and the people who hate you, they actually pay your bills. It’s kind of a cool concept.

“Every person that bought a ticket to come out here and fool me, it all goes to the Danielle Collins Fund. Bring it on. I love it.”

Collins, 31, who Coco Gauff said “will always be Danielle”, at a recent press conference, is not the first player to give something back to the partisan crowd – Jack Draper celebrated a five-set victory over Thanasi Kokkinakis by tipping the cup his ear to the Australians.

Collins, a finalist in Melbourne in 2022, is unwilling to shrug off hostility from fans and players, real or imagined.

At the Paris Olympics, Collins had a tense exchange with then world no. 1, Iga Swiatek, after pulling out of their Olympic quarterfinal with an injury. “I just told her not to be disingenuous about my injury. I don’t need the fakeness,” Collins said afterward, drawing a confused reaction from Swiatek.


Collins kissed the crowd in Melbourne (Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Collins, who postponed her retirement from tennis after learning her endometriosis would cause complications with her plan to start a family, has been open about how difficult that journey has been.

“You feel like you’re chasing your tail sometimes with the news you get from your doctors because it can feel like Groundhog Day,” she shared Athletics in November.

“Other times you’re like, ‘Wow, I’ve done treatment, I’ve had surgery.’ And yet this thing remains a problem.’ And you think, ‘How is it like this?’ But that’s the thing about endometriosis, it’s not that tangible thing that you can just fix and it can just go away. It doesn’t really go away.”

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(Top photo: William West/AFP via Getty Images)