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BARTY "Wins"; COLLINS Screwed

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BARTY "Wins"; COLLINS Screwed

Post by Grossefavourite » Jan Sat 29, 2022 10:04 pm

US star melts down over ‘heckling’ Aus Open crowd

Danielle Collins had to battle the crowd as well as Ash Barty in her Australian Open final loss on Saturday night.

While it initially appeared to buoy her, Collins on multiple occasions complained to the umpire about the noise the crowd was making while she was trying to serve.

Trailing by a set but having broken back, a member of the crowd yelled out at Collins after an errant first serve, saying it was “two metres” out.

Collins appeared fired up by the comment and, after holding serve, delivered a fist-pump seemingly towards the crowd member.

“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,” Casey Dellacqua said on Channel Nine.

“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.”

Collins said as much post-match, revealing she thrives in that environment.

“Yeah, I mean, that kind of stuff only helps me,” she said.

“I think for those who’ve watched me over the last couple of years have kind of seen that and learned that. I love nothing more than someone doing something like that because I love competing and trying to make it fun.

“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.

It was a real honor 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.”

Collins is renowned for her combativeness and didn’t appear fazed whatsoever by the one-sided crowd.

Jelena Dokic compared Collins’ attitude towards the crowd with men’s world No.2 Daniil Medvedev.

“This is dangerous. Danielle Collins she is to me a little bit like Medvedev. She feeds off the crowd energy, even if they are not going for her,” she said.

“She uses it in a way that fires her up. So, very, very dangerous when Danielle Collins gets like that. Which is what we’re seeing now.”

But that didn’t last long.

After racing out to a 5-1 lead in the second set, things started to fall apart as Barty’s metronomic style, and the crowd, finally broke her down.

Barty got one break back, before Collins, up 5-3, resorted to complaining to the chair umpire down another break point.

“She’s unhappy the crowd called out during that rally,” Jim Courier said in commentary, as the RLA crowd booed.

The umpire spoke to the crowd immediately after. It didn’t help.

Barty broke again, and flustered, Collins couldn’t stop the comeback as the Australian completed the turnaround in a second set tie-break.

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