ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL

February 24, 2021

Danielle Collins

Press Conference

D. COLLINS/A. Barty

6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Obviously one of the biggest wins of your career. How do you relate to it, not only beating world No. 1 but also taking down Ash in front of her home fans.

DANIELLE COLLINS: Yeah, I think I was really familiar with her game after losing to her three times, so I certainly got some great tennis lessons out of that and have learned from it. I think I'm greater for those matches now and I'm trying to make improvements, especially looking back at some of the matches that I had lost last year and this year, so, yeah, just trying to make improvements each match and focusing on that.

I just kind of took it one point at a time today. I felt like pretty comfortable on this court, having played on it so many times. This is my second time playing in Adelaide and, yeah, I like the court speed, I like the weather, it's just kind of suits my game well.

So, yeah, just I felt really comfortable today and I kind of had my game plan and knew what I needed to do and just kind of stuck with that even when I was down in both sets. Yeah, I didn't get too carried away today.

Q. As you mentioned you were trailing in both sets. I guess the resilience on your part to overcome that and fight back must be very satisfying for you?

DANIELLE COLLINS: Yeah, I don't remember the last match I was down by that much in both sets, so it's definitely a big accomplishment to beat the No. 1 player in the world being in those, being in such a deficit in both sets. So I think I can carry that with me into the future matches and hopefully that gives me some confidence.

Q. Are you changing your game this season compared to last?

DANIELLE COLLINS: Yeah, I think my physical fitness is one of the things that has improved a lot because we had such a long year and a long period of being able to just train consistently for weeks and weeks and months and months. I think pretty much from February to July I didn't play a tournament and then I think I had a nearly three-month pre-season.

So I think my overall physical fitness and strength has gotten a lot better, but with that I think that gives me more confidence when I go into long points and I'm being a little bit more patient within the rallies. My serve has improved a bit as well, I'm starting to get a few more free points here and there on my serve, so that was something that I really worked on a lot during the off-season. I've had some days where it hasn't been as great but I just try to get back to it and what I've been working on and I think those are probably the three biggest areas that I've improved the most.

Q. Did you sense that Ash was a bit vulnerable after what happened to her in Melbourne?

DANIELLE COLLINS: No, I thought she played a good match there and she just ran into a tough opponent and it was tough conditions, too, I think, with the heat. And sometimes that happens, even if you're No. 1 in the world. I think she proved that she was playing really great tennis even with taking pretty much a year off and she had won that tournament the week before. So I don't think she can be too upset about that.

But I'm sure maybe she was feeling maybe a little bit physically fatigued with all the matches that she's played over the course of the last three weeks, but, yeah.

Q. This possibility for a quarterfinal opponent could be Iga. I know you've played and you've been complimented by Alicja Rosolska, your former doubles partner. She's a mom right now in Poland. And in case you would play Iga, will you call Alicja to get some advice about Iga?

DANIELLE COLLINS: Oh, I would feel bad doing that (laughing), I think. I'm working with a coach this week, so I'll just kind of sit down and talk with him about it. Alicja and I are great friends and had a great time playing doubles with each other last year, so hopefully she gets back on tour soon, because I miss her.

But I've never played Iga and she's had some great success with winning the French Open last year and then now starting off I think 2021 really strong, so I'm really looking forward to playing against her, I watched so many of her matches at Roland Garros and she was somebody that I really enjoyed watching and I think she's a great competitor. So I think it's going to be a really fun battle.