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American tennis star Danielle Collins on Tuesday defended her outburst toward a cameraman during a tournament last week.
Collins’ incident occurred at the Internationaux de Strasbourg against Emma Raducanu. During a changeover, she told the cameraman to keep their distance as she refilled her water bottle. She said the cameraman was acting “wildly inappropriate.”
She spoke at length about it after the victory over Jodie Anna Burrage in the first round of the French Open.
“I think what happened in Strasbourg is just me asking for personal space at my work place. I don’t know why that is even a topic of discussion,” she said, via The Tennis Letter. “It should be something that we can get to have during, like, our work. The fact that I’ve had to ask so many different times in my career and during different matches to just have an adequate level of personal space is kind of strange.
“I think often times it seems like my response is treated like the offense itself. I’m learning that as a female, asking for personal space seems to be an issue for a lot of people. I think it’s really pathetic honestly, that it’s even a topic of discussion. It’s something that over time … there’s been no one that’s been able to make the adjustment.”
Collins said that in the video that went viral across social media there was “so much people don’t see.” She said fans “don’t see the person go and stand right on top of Emma to get a good shot of me in about a 2-3 foot space.”
She added that she needed to be able to focus on the match itself without having a camera in her face.
“I’m doing a performance job. I’m trying to focus on my work. I’m trying to maintain my focus and concentration,” Collins said. “My job requires channeling physical, emotional, and then logical things going on. It’s my job to kind of put that all together. The last thing I should be focusing on is someone that’s right on top of my opponent and right in my face. It’s just really unnecessary.”
Collins wondered where the line was for those working behind the camera.
“I don’t necessarily think it was creepy,” she said. “But I think we should all be able to say, like, ‘Hey. I would like some physical space.’ You go to different tournaments, and you ask nicely most of the time. You ask politely. That doesn’t get reported on. But the time I get upset about at it, that response is treated as the offense itself. And that’s what I find most interesting about it.”
The Florida native has never made it past the quarterfinals of the French Open.
She is set to take on Serbia’s Olga Danilovic in the second round.
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