OMNIUM BANQUE NATIONALE

August 11, 2023

Danielle Collins

Press Conference

I. SWIATEK/Danielle Collins

6-3, 4-6, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Tough luck tonight, Danielle. What made Iga such a tricky opponent tonight?

DANIELLE COLLINS: Yeah, I think it's pretty tricky when you're playing against the No. 1 player in the world. She's very precise with her shots. She runs down a lot of balls.

You know, there were a couple of points here and there in some of those sets that I lost, and ultimately it determined the outcome of those sets.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. It was your sixth match of the week, and it was her third. You probably don't want to use that as an excuse, of course, but did you feel the fatigue in that third set?

DANIELLE COLLINS: Yeah, I mean, I think this many matches in I think from an energy perspective that probably had a big affect on the match.

I don't want to take away from Iga's performance. I think the way she was hitting her shots and her precision and what she was doing tactically was great. So, yeah, it was a good match.

I think the scoreline in the end, too, it really kind of just came down to the two games that I lost on serve. Close games, but just got away from me, so just a couple of points.

Q. Obviously you are probably disappointed, but are you happy with your week?

DANIELLE COLLINS: Yeah, overall happy with my week. My goal last week after losing first round in D.C. was to just get more matches and try to improve each match, and I feel like I certainly did that even though I didn't have the outcome that I wanted today.

So, yeah, I mean, I feel like it's always tough when you have to play the No. 1 player in the world. It's not easy to get past, but overall a lot of improvements I think this week.

Q. It did feel like there was a moment there where you were really putting pressure on Iga and felt like the tides were turning. What do you think was working for you then?

DANIELLE COLLINS: Yeah, I think in those moments I was playing pretty aggressive. I had aggressive mindset trying to pick some balls off at the net and finish some shots in the service line.

Sometimes I didn't get in there, but I feel like having that mentality definitely helped me play a little bit more aggressive, and I think when the match got away from me a little bit, I think it was a little bit too passive at times.

Iga really capitalized on that and used her aggressive play to kind of take the lead. So, you know, I just had to try to hang in there as much as possible, but I did the best I could, but sometimes it's tough playing the No. 1 person in the world.

Q. I was told that you are the nicest player of the week here in Montreal. What do you think about that? Did you know that? Did somebody tell you that? Nicest player with the kids this week.

DANIELLE COLLINS: Yeah, I feel like I love kids, and any time I can try to inspire the younger generation and interact with the kids it's great.

I just reached out to someone in New York who does a grassroots program and wanted to get in there and hop in the kids clinic before the start of the US Open, so I do a lot with the kids.

Unfortunately, a lot of other people don't get to really see that, but yeah, I love being around the kids. I feel like they bring so much energy.

Any time I can help out and try to get on the court with the kids, I always jump in. Even when I'm training at IMG, there's been a couple of times with the 10 and under camp where I jump in for 30 minutes and play with the little ones. So I love the kids.

Q. Just wondering if fatigue had anything to do with your performance, do you think? It was your sixth match of the tournament, so...

DANIELLE COLLINS: Yeah. I mean, I think definitely. I haven't played this many matches in a row consecutive days in a while.

I felt pretty good, but I feel like in some key moments maybe some of the balls that I would have normally had gotten to a couple of days ago I didn't get to those today.

Overall I think I hung in there for the most part, but yeah, I think whenever you play this many matches, it's definitely going to affect you. It's just how you push through it.

Yeah, just didn't really get over the hurdle at the end, unfortunately, but hopefully now that I've played a couple of matches back-to-back days, I can kind of go into the next week and US Open prepared because you can do a lot of physical fitness and spend so much time in the gym like I do, but sometimes your body is not quite used to playing all those matches.

It was a really good week to get this many in a row.