Danielle Collins says the best thing about being a professional athlete is that the people who heckle her pay her bills and said the abuse helped her win her second-round match at the Australian Open.
The 31-year-old was seen blowing kisses to the crowd at Melbourne Park and cupping her hand to her ear after she beat Australian qualifier Destanee Aiava 7-6 4-6 6-2 in the women’s singles event.
Collins postponed her retirement from tennis due to ‘fertility problems’ from endometriosis at the end of last season and is the tournament’s 10th seed.
“One of the greatest things about being a professional athlete is the people that don’t like you and the people that hate you, they actually pay your bills,” Collins said.
“It’s a cool concept. Obviously, my professional career is not going to last forever. So I remind myself every day when I have that kind of stuff, they’re paying my bills.
“Every person that’s bought a ticket to come out here and heckle me or do what they do, it’s all going towards the Danielle Collins Fund.
Collins blew kisses to the partisan crowd after defeating Aiava saying the heckles helped her win the match
“Me and my group of girlfriends love a five-star vacation. I can guarantee you that the cheque goes towards our next five-star trip, hopefully to The Bahamas.
“We like big boats, we like yachts. We’ll post about it, and let you guys know how it goes.”
Collins: Crowd motivates me even more
After claiming her victory over Aiava, the last Australian left in the draw, in two hours and 25 minutes, Collins mouthed to the crowd: “How about that?”.
In the press conference that followed she spoke about gaining motivation from the partisan crowd at the Kia Arena who had been solidly backing Aiava throughout the match.
“I loved it. I’ve been doing this my whole life,” Collins added.
“I love playing in a crowd that has energy, regardless of what side they’re on.
“It just motivates me even more. So it’s a good thing, especially when I’m not playing that well.
Danielle Collins reacts after defeating home favourite Destanee Aiava in their second-round match at the Australian Open
“So I think it really helped me in the end, helped me concentrate more, and challenged me at times and pushed me through the finish line.
“I was really happy too when I finally got momentum. I’m like: ‘Well, if I’m going to be out here for two-and-a-half hours, putting up with all these people, I might as well just take the bigger paycheque, right?’ I was super happy to do that.”
Collins brushes off tactical medical timeout claims
Collins was forced to take a medical timeout when her opponent was due to serve for the set at 5-2 and brushed off insinuations that it was to put Aiava off.
“Of course, they’re going to say that. It was very obvious I was struggling with getting my legs on my serve,” Collins, who took medication during the timeout, said.
Collins shook hands with Aiava following her 7-6 4-6 6-2 win in Melbourne
“I was missing a lot of serves. I was having to compensate quite a bit because every time I put my foot in flexion, I was doing this weird thing with my back leg.
“I was missing a lot of serves because of it, honestly. I was also having a hard time pushing out of the corners.
“It got to the point that I needed to have some aid with it and get some anti-inflammatories. It flared up during Adelaide.
“I haven’t had any pain with it since and all of a sudden, I think just from all the pounding, I needed to have some assistance on it. It just was progressively getting worse.”
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