"Why would Danielle Collins be sitting like that?": Victoria Azarenka hits out at insinuation of American relishing Iga Swiatek's Cincinnati Open exit
Victoria Azarenka has clapped back at the insinuation that Danielle Collins enjoyed Iga Swiatek's loss to Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals of the recently-concluded 2024 Cincinnati Open. World No. 1 and top seed Swiatek suffered a crushing 3-6, 3-6 defeat at the hands of the Belarusian at the prestigious WTA 1000 event on Monday, August 19.
Swiatek went into the match against the then World No. 3 Sabalenka as the favorite, given her success across their two previous showdowns at WTA 1000 events earlier this year - in Madrid and Rome. The World No. 1 also had a resounding 8-3 lead in the pair's head-to-head on the WTA Tour.
However, Sabalenka produced a masterclass in serving and returning aggressively, which gave Swiatek very little time to grow into points. More often than not, the two-time reigning Australian Open champion finished the point off before the three-time reigning French Open champion could settle into the rally.
To make matters worse for Swiatek, her second serve was underwhelming throughout the match. All these factors eventually led to Sabalenka registering her first-ever straight sets win over the Pole.
As the match unfolded, prominent tennis author and social media personality Bastien Fachan shared an image of Danielle Collins on X (formerly Twitter). It featured the former World No. 7 sitting on her bench during one of her matches and grinning widely.
Fachan's post featured a caption that insinuated Collins was following the match at home and enjoying Swiatek losing against Sabalenka.
"Danielle Collins at home watching this like," Fachan wrote.
Fachan's insinuation stemmed from Collins and Swiatek's rivalry, which took a bitter turn at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The pair clashed in the women's singles quarterfinals at this year's Games, and it ended controversially as the American retired and gave the Pole a talking-to before making her way out of the court.
Later, Collins opened up at a press conference and told reporters that she had criticized Swiatek over the Pole's apparent 'insincerity'.
However, Fachan's post did not go down well with former World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, who ridiculed him by asking why Collins would be sitting at home all kitted up, with a racquet in her hand.
"Why would she be sitting at home like that?" Azarenka asked.
Swiatek herself later spoke about the frosty exchange with Collins at the Paris Olympics, suggesting that she couldn't make much sense of the American's take.
"Danielle Collins and I didn't have any interactions that could have caused her to say that to me" - Iga Swiatek on controversial Paris Olympics exchange with American
Swiatek was unsurprisingly questioned about the reason behind Collins calling her out. But the five-time Major winner didn't have any explanation; according to her, she didn't do anything to have been subject to the American's criticism.
Instead, she stated that she simply wanted to "congratulate Collins on her successful career".
Collins had announced earlier this year that the ongoing season would be her last as a professional tennis player due to her desire to have children and focus more on nurturing a family.
"Well, I won't argue about it, because I've never done anything nasty to her. I rather wanted to congratulate her on her successful career, because we all know that this is her last year on tour. Honestly, I don't know what she meant, because we didn't even have any interactions that could have caused her to say that to me," Swiatek said.
Swiatek's next outing is set to be the US Open, where she will be the top seed in the women's singles main draw. Collins, meanwhile, is set to feature at the Monterrey Open in the buildup to the year's last Grand Slam.
The American is slated to square off against Russian Erika Andreeva in the first round on Wednesday, August 21.