Playing an Australian opponent on their home soil is always an uphill battle and American Danielle Collins experienced a rollercoaster of emotions during last night’s Australian Open final against Ash Barty.
After dropping the first set 6-3 to Barty, Collins began to lift her game and on-court energy.
The 28-year-old saw off the world No.1 in a tight second set game which drew the attention of US great Jim Courier.
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“Did she just engage the crowd then? Is that a sarcastic racquet clap after she missed the shot and they cheered?” he said in commentary for Nine.
“This is dangerous,” Aussie great Jelena Dokic added.
“Danielle Collins, she is to me a little bit like (Daniil) Medvedev. She feeds off the crowd’s energy. Even if they are not going for her, she uses it in a way that fires her up. So this is very, very dangerous when Danielle Collins gets like that. Which is what we’re seeing now.”
Collins went on to lead 5-1 in the second set as Rod Laver Arena fell quiet.
But as Barty launched an incredible, and decisive comeback, the Aussie fans started to irritate Collins.
“After she missed her first serve, someone in the crowd said, ‘that missed two metres’, she fist pumped back at him when she won the next point,” courtside commentator Casey Dellacqua said on Nine’s coverage.
“The crowd are well and truly getting into it. There was someone heckling Collins a little bit. She gave it right back to him when she won a point.
“I wouldn’t want to get Collins too fired up.”
At 5-3, the 30th seed then approached chair umpire Marijana Veljovic and demanded she tell spectators to stop calling out as she served.
Veljovic obliged: “Ladies and gentlemen, please as a courtesy to both players, do not shout out during play. Thank you.”
Despite the tension during the final, Collins showed great class in defeat, congratulating Barty and thanking the Australian Open organisers in a gracious post-match speech.
“It’s not easy going out and playing someone pretty much on their home court, on home soil, in the finals of a major, but this is what we live for in sports, right? These are incredible moments that you don’t get to experience very often,” Collins said.
“It was a real honour to be out there. I tried to embrace every moment, I tried to get the crowd fired up. I tried to get myself into it, did everything I could.”
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