MELBOURNE, Australia — Tennis' newest villain Danielle Collins was booed by the Australian Open crowd as she lost to fellow American Madison Keys 6-4, 6-4 in the third round on Saturday night. and ridicule.

Collins made headlines in Australia after her second-round match, where she defeated local hopeful Destany Ayava in three tough sets. The American, who was heckled during the match, fired back at the hostile Australian crowd after winning the match, blowing them kisses, asking them to make more noise and even slapping her on the back in the direction of the crowd.

She then took the microphone during the post-match press conference, further heightening the tension.

"You know, I was thinking during the game, 'Well, if I'm here, I might as well get that huge salary,'" Collins said.

"(My friend Coco Vandeweghe) and I love, we love a good five-star vacation, so part of the check is going to go to that, so thank you, thank you for coming out and supporting us tonight."

When Collins and Keys walked onto Rod Laver Arena on Saturday night, there were some boos around the stadium and Collins motioned for the crowd to continue the game.

Later, when the host of the tournament introduced the players on the court, Collins received another round of boos, accompanied by some enthusiastic cheers, but once the game started, the No. 10 seed made a mistake in his first serve - and the heckling escalated. — was ridiculed.

Danielle Collins was greeted with boos as she entered Rod Laver Arena. 😠🔊#AustraliaOpen pic.twitter.com/eGcuxwS9Yg

— Eurosport (@eurosport) January 18, 2025

In the same service game, Collins made a double fault, prompting cheers and laughter from the largely Australian crowd. In contrast, there was silence as Keys double-faulted for the first time in the match.

A Collins error later led to a member of the crowd commenting: "Ha, try again!" prompting the referee to warn the crowd not to shout between the first and second serves.

The pantomime villain started slowly under the lights; Collins was broken in the first game of the first set and could never regain the momentum, Keys won the set 6-4.

The second set was in stark contrast to the first set right from the start. In the second game, Collins started hitting the ball and broke serve to consolidate a 3-0 lead, but Keyes held firm and broke again shortly afterwards to equalize the match.

Collins, the 10th seed, then appeared to battle a knee injury. When the score was 3-3 in the sixth game, she asked the referee for a medical timeout and then gave up a crucial break. Keys took the lead at 4-3 and she would not give up.

The very supportive crowd roared enthusiastically when the 19th seed gained match point, and again booed and jeered as Collins left the court. Collins is the runner-up here in 2022 against Ashleigh Barty.

Speaking to the media after the loss, Collins said she expected a hostile reception from the crowd, adding that she did "enjoy" the energetic crowds when she played.

"Obviously I expected that. That was good. Like I said, I really enjoyed playing in this environment. That's what you work so hard for your whole life as a kid. I embraced it," she said.

"Yeah, I think overall it's good. It gets me excited at times. It gets us into the game and keeps us all focused."

Asked whether she would be able to regain a good relationship with Australian audiences in the future, Collins was cautious about her week in Australia and the attention she received.

"At the end of the day, whatever happens, happens. The most important thing is that no one got hurt. Maybe some feelings were hurt or things were taken personally and they probably shouldn't have been taken personally by the crowd," she said.

"But, yeah, I think sometimes people take life too seriously. I think in our sport, like someone told me, the average age of people watching tennis and fans is 65. I think, you I knew we needed to bring some entertainment to the game, and I thought we could try to make jokes.

"I don't have a huge amount of self-awareness when it comes to that. I honestly don't care what people write about me. I don't care what someone living in a basement writes on the internet. You know what I mean I just want to have fun? "