The world’s best tennis players are used to being on camera during the breaks in their matches, but one cameraman apparently got a bit too close for comfort for Danielle Collins.
The American tennis star lashed out a member of the TV crew during a changeover in her match against Emma Raducanu at the Internationaux de Strasbourg on Wednesday.
The incident occurred during the third set of the match with the score tied at three games apiece when Collins noticed how close the cameraman was standing to the players’ bench area on sideline.
“I need to get water. We’re on a changeover. You don’t need to be that close to me and you don’t need to be on top of Emma,” Collins said while approaching the cameraman, who was standing next to the water dispenser.
“It’s like wildly inappropriate,” Collins added after an angry-sounding chuckle.
The cameraman then stepped back and, as Collins filled her water bottle, said that it is “not that difficult to give space.”
The cameraman was noticeably close to Raducanu during the exchange, with the 2021 US Open winner appearing to the right of the frame.
After Collins finished filling her water bottle, the cameraman went to close in for another shot but appeared to think better of it.
After the changeover, Collins seemed to be fired up, winning the next three games to win the set and match – 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 – and advance to the tournament’s quarterfinals, which she won in a walkover on Thursday.
After the match with Raducanu, Collins commented on the heated exchange.
“I think to be good at anything, self-expression is really important,” she said. ”There’s not too many successful people in the world that feel like they can’t be themselves.
“I think you have to be yourself, and I’m a competitor at the end of the day. I’m not meek and mild. I’m not someone that is going through life quietly, and I want to succeed. I know what it takes to succeed, and at this level, you have to compete and this is what competing is about. It’s about bringing the energy, showing positive emotions, sometimes showing negative emotion and being upset with yourself, but then trying to work through those moments.”
The Florida native made headlines earlier this at the Australian Open when she taunted the crowd after defeating Destanee Aiava, blowing kisses to the booing fans, making fun of the bystanders for being old, and slapping her butt.