'With women, it becomes this way bigger issue': Danielle Collins opens up on fractious Olympic Games incident with Iga Swiatek

Collins hopes incident can help the WTA Tour implement change

Danielle Collins has spoken publicly for the first time about her highly-publicized spat with Iga Swiatek at the Tokyo Olympics, saying she regrets her reaction but hopes the aftermath can help implement change on the WTA Tour.

Swiatek had approached the net to shake hands with Collins after their third-round match at the Games, only for the American to snub her. Collins, who was visibly upset at the time, said she felt Swiatek’s on-court behavior had been disrespectful.

In an interview with The New York Times, Collins said she had not meant to disrespect Swiatek but that she had been frustrated by the 20-year-old's repeated gamesmanship throughout the match.

"It's a disrespect thing for me," Collins said. "The point of contention with me is you can play to the lines, you can play within the rules, but it's when these unwritten rules of tennis get broken that get me fired up."

Swiatek branded Collins a 'sore loser'

In the aftermath of the incident, Swiatek branded Collins a "sore loser." But Collins insists that wasn't the case, and that her issue lay with the behavior of Swiatek, not the fact that she had lost.

"I don't think I'm a sore loser," Collins said. "If I played a match and I felt like I got beat fair and square, then I have no issues shaking someone's hand. But if I felt like they weren't being respectful during the match, then I have a huge issue with it."

Collins is one of a number of players who have spoken out about the issue of gamesmanship on the WTA Tour. She hopes that the incident with Swiatek can help to bring about change.

"I hope we're at a point on the WTA where we can be a little bit better, have a little bit more respect for our opponents, and have a little bit more class," she said. "I think that will make our tour a little bit better."