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Danielle Collins suggests she felt the need to stand up for the crowd person when she took exception with Maria Sakkari tossing the ball into the stands during their Montreal match. Earlier this month, Sakkari missed a first service and sent the ball flying into the stands during the second set of her Montreal second-round match against Collins.
The ball didn't hit anyone and the chair umpire didn't react but Collins didn't let it go unnoticed. An on-court argument between Collins and Sakkari ensued as Collins was heard telling Sakkari to "shut your mouth," while Sakkari responded by asking Collins what was her problems.
After the match, Collins received certain criticism and backlash for telling Sakkari "shut your mouth" as some just didn't like the way Collins addressed Sakkari on the court. “She almost hit someone, and I got villainized for standing up for them,” Collins told David Kane of tennis.com.
Collins on why she called out Sakkari on the court
Explaining why she called out Sakkari on the court, Collins said coach Jared Jackson has been working on helping her be her "authentic self" in recent months. That's why Collins had the courage to speak up and call out Sakkari.
“A couple months ago, I wouldn’t have done that. I would have been too worried about what other people are saying or thinking about me, or judging me. I feel like, so much of what Jared has tried to help me with is being my authentic self, what’s important to me and my values, and not being so concerned about the things that I can’t control.
I think that’s helped so much to put things into perspective, because it’s easy to drift away from that. There’s so much outside noise and criticism that we get as players, and it’s tough, right? And as a woman? There’s unfortunately a lot of societal expectations of this meek and mild woman," Collins said.