Australia Open Crowd Gets A Taste Of Their Own Heckling

A victorious Danielle Collins blew kisses to a hostile Australian Open crowd and thanked fans for helping her land a "big fat pay cheque" as she celebrated a win over home hopeful Destanee Aiava.

The American 10th seed also slapped her backside and cupped her hands to her ears after surviving a second set wobble to seal match point.

Collins’s 7-6, 4-6, 6-2 win over the unseeded Aiava ended Australia’s hopes in the women’s singles in Melbourne before she rounded on fans in a feisty on-court interview.

Responding to a chorus of boos from fans inside the Kia Arena, Collins said: "You know I was thinking during the match, hmm, if I’m out here I may as well take that big fat pay cheque.

"CoCo [Vandeweghe, Collins’s doubles partner] and I, we love a good five-star vacation so part of that pay cheque is going towards that. So thank you guys. Thanks for coming out here and supporting us tonight."

The interviewer appeared to cut short the conversation, before Collins grabbed the microphone and continued to jeer the crowd, adding: "Thanks guys, love ya."

Collins has already earned £147,000 in prize money by reaching the third round, where she will face compatriot Madison Keys.

The 31-year-old, who reversed her decision to retire at the end of last season, doubled down on her incendiary on-court comments in her press conference.

"Well I'm going to be here for two hours, putting up with all these people, I might as well take the bigger pay cheque, right?" said Collins.

"I was super-happy to do that and one of the greatest things about being a professional athlete are that the people that don’t like you and that hate you, they actually pay your bills.

"It’s kind of a cool concept and obviously my professional career is not going to last forever and I just remind myself every day when I have that kind of stuff that they’re paying my bills.

"Every person that has bought a ticket and has come out here to heckle me can do what they do. It’s all going towards the Danielle Collins fund. So like, yeah, bring it on, I love it."

This is an eye-opening lesson for those attending tennis tournaments: if you heckle a player, don't cry if they heckle you back.