"She almost hit someone and I got villainized for standing up for them"- Danielle Collins opens up on controversial Maria Sakkari incident in Montreal

Danielle Collins spoke about the controversial incident between her and Maria Sakkari during the Canadian Open.

The two locked horns in the second round of the WTA 1000 tournament in Montreal. During the second set of the match, Sakkari's first serve was called a fault and she hit a ball that bounced off the court into the crowd.

Danielle Collins was not happy with the Greek's actions and spoke to the chair umpire about this. Sakkari claimed that she did not hit anyone, and the American then told her to "shut her mouth." An argument between the two players ensued and it went on for a while before play resumed.

Collins spoke about the incident in an interview and claimed that she got villainized for standing up after Sakkari nearly hit someone.

“She almost hit someone, and I got villainized for standing up for them," Collins said.

The American also claimed that she would not have done this a few months back as she would have been too concerned about what others would have thought about her. She also claimed that her coach Jared Jacobs helped her be her authentic self.

“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," Collins said.

"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," she added.

Danielle Collins went on to defeat Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-2 and later, Leylah Fernandez 6-2, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals of the Canadian Open before losing Iga Swiatek beat her 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.

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Danielle Collins reaches the second round of US Open 2023

Danielle Collins in action at the US Open

Danielle Collins booked her place in the second round of the US Open with a crushing 6-2, 6-0 win over Linda Fruhvirtova. The head-to-head between the two is now tied at 1-1.

Collins will next face either 32nd seed Elise Mertens or Mirjam Bjorklund in the second round of the New York Major. The American has won 15 out of 30 matches so far this season, with her best performance being reaching the quarterfinals of the Canadian Open in Montreal. Collins is currently ranked 34th in the world.