Italian Open star unleashes on crowd and gives cameraman a telling-off
The Italian Open crowd once again was on the receiving end of a player outburst.
American tennis star Danielle Collins fumed at both the Italian Open crowd and a cameraman during her 6-4, 6-3 quarter-final win over Victoria Azarenka. She set up a semi with Aryna Sabalenka but not before clashing with those who came to watch her final campaign in Rome.
The 30-year-old, who is calling a day on her career at some point this season, has reached her third semi-final in four tournaments across the past eight weeks. She has hit a rich vein of form on her farewell tour but was unable to resist multiple outbursts as she cruised to victory over the former world No. 1.
After the culmination of the third set, with Azarenka leading 2-1, Collins made her way to the side of the court for a short break as she searched through her bag. But she was not happy with how close the cameraman was to her between sets.
Making her way off the court she told the operator off and said: “Hey dude, you’re gonna have to back up a little bit,” to which the request was honoured and Collins was captured from a larger distance as she then sought to make a comeback.
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In the same set, though Collins had already moved ahead 5-3, a member of the crowd appeared perplexed that she had missed her first serve. Azarenka led 40-15 in the game and was on the verge of breaking her opponent who was serving to win the set.
After Collins’ first serve landed out and she prepared to take a safer second attempt, the American responded to a remark from the crowd by shouting back: “What? What?”
She was able to keep her composure and see off Azarenka in straight sets, teeing up a classic with world No. 2 Sabalenka in a rematch of their fourth-round Madrid Open clash, which Sabalenka won 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to end her opponent’s 15-match winning run.
After announcing that she would be retiring this year following defeat to Iga Swiatek at the Australian Open, Collins’ record stands at 30 wins and just five defeats. She wants to be remembered for ending her career on a positive note, aiming for a win on her final visit to Rome.
Danielle Collins told the cameraman to back up during her match against Azarenka:
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) May 15, 2024
“Hey dude, you’re gonna have to back up a little bit” ?????? pic.twitter.com/YCLZlALZ45
"I think it's important for me to feel like, 'OK, I got everything I could out of myself as an athlete, and end on a positive note, rather than being like, 'Oh, God, what happened?' That's just how I want to go down," she said after defeating Azarenka.
"This has certainly been the biggest stretch of wins I've had in my career and I do think that because I've been making those improvements, it's led to me playing some of the best tennis that I've played so far, which is super rewarding because you go through periods where you might take three steps forward, and you might take four steps back some weeks.
“It's kind of like the stock market. It's really up and down sometimes and it's not always inch by inch by inch going up. It's been nice, like to have a stretch where I've really been climbing because it's not always like that. I think you have to be really happy for yourself in these moments because it doesn't always work out that way."