Danielle Collins gets real about her handshake controversy with Iga Swiatek & pushback on her reaction

Danielle Collins prides herself on being a very honest tennis player who doesn't hide what she thinks. It's a bit of a rarity in modern sports, where many athletes try to offend the fewest people.

That's not the case for Collins, who has been involved in spats over the years. She famously told Maria Sakkari to shut up during one of their matches. She also had a spat with Iga Swiatek, which is seemingly going strong even in 2025. They had a chance to shake hands at the United Cup not long ago, and they did.

However, what followed was a typical Collins show. Not only did she not look at Swiatek while shaking hands with her, but she also rolled her eyes. To make things even spicier, she then posted that photo of her rolling her eyes on Instagram with the caption:

"New Year, same me."

Danielle Collins was asked about it at the Australian Open. She kept it real:

"I think we all compete hard against each other, and we give it our all. But I think for the most part, I think most of us are pretty cool with shaking hands with each other. Look, I'm a human. I have, like, situations I like, situations I don't like, things that happen, right? All these memes keep coming up on my Instagram of my face, you know, my face says it all."

"And so I'm just somebody that's pretty genuine what I'm thinking and feeling. I also, you know, laugh at myself too, because I know that I can be this way, and I know that it's not always the greatest. But I try to, like, poke fun at myself and not take myself too seriously," Danielle Collins added.

Another thing that Collins talked about in her press conference was how things often get taken out of context.

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"So much gets taken out of context" - Danielle Collins on fan reactions

Danielle Collins said in her press conference at the 2025 Australian Open that fans see something and immediately assume something while in reality, it's not really that way at all:

"I feel like so much gets taken out of context. Fans think that they know players personally, they think they know all the ins and outs of what takes place on a daily basis, but the reality is they really don't. Yeah, I just think at the end of the day, I am trying to just make fun of myself now."

Whatever some might think of her, it's great that Collins is still on tour because last year was supposed to be her final year.