'Shut up': USA tennis star feuds with Australian Open crowd

Joshua Mayne

'Shut up': USA tennis star feuds with Australian Open crowd image

Danielle Collins and the KIA Arena crowd didn't exactly get along on Thursday night.

The No. 10 seed was visibly frustrated with the home support in the opening stages of her second round Australian Open match against local favourite Destanee Aiava.

In a tense first set, the American prevailed via a tiebreak, 7-6(4).

During the subsequent break in play, Collins sarcastically blew a kiss to the crowd in response to the partisan support.

Then, while serving early in the second set, the 31-year-old appeared to tell a spectator to "shut up", before the umpire intervened to quieten the fans.

Collins went on to have her opening service game of that set broken.

With the Australian qualifier up 5-2 in the second set, the American took a medical timeout and received treatment on her foot. 

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While Collins did lose the second set, she used her experience in the deciding third set, breaking her opponent twice to win the match 7-6(4) 4-6 6-2. 

After converting on match point, she made sure the home crowd knew about it, cupping her hand around her ear before blowing some more sarcastic kisses, leading to boos from the local supporters.

As Collins began her post-match interview, the jeers rang even louder, so she took the microphone and delivered a cheeky message.

"You know, I was thinking during the match ... if I'm out here I might as well just take that big, fat paycheck", Collins said.

"CoCo (Vandeweghe) and I love a good five-star vacation, so part of that check is going to go towards that.

"So thank you guys! Thanks for coming out here and supporting us tonight."

Collins will face fellow American Madison Keys in the third round at Melbourne Park.

Joshua Mayne

Joshua Mayne is a content producer for The Sporting News currently based in Manchester, England. He has previously worked as a newsreader at 2SER and journalist at Ministry of Sport. Joshua specialises in rugby league, motorsport and tennis. He is still waiting for Arsenal to win the Premier League again.