The country’s newest villain has been knocked out of the Australian Open and while many are saying she got what she deserved, I’m genuinely disappointed and could just be her newest and biggest fan.

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Danielle Collins is definitely no saint but she’s certainly not the sinner people are making her out to be.

The Australian Open this year has so many great storylines, but the one everyone seems to be latching onto, and firing up at, is the world number 11’s antics at Melbourne Park.

It all started when Collins was taking on young Australian Destanee Aiava in the second round.

Her list of offences started with simply … taking on an Aussie, made much worse when she won, then came her playful antics, blowing kisses to the crowd, slapping her bum and then finished it off by daring to say in her post match interview “I was thinking during the match, I was like, if I’m out here I may as well just take that big, fat pay cheque … Coco and I love, we love, a good five-star vacation. Part of our cheque is going towards that.”

“The people who don’t like you and the people that hate your, they actually pay your bills”.

Her next list of misdemeanours continued in the third round when she took on fellow American Madison Keys, Collins was booed loudly and relentlessly from the moment she entered the court. It was uncomfortable to watch. Her charge here … being Danielle Collins.

And while many clearly do, I don’t have a problem with Danielle’s behaviour at all.

Long gone are the days of sportswomen having to be polite, humble, say and do the right thing, wear ribbons in their hair, twirl on the court and then my favourite, acknowledge they’re “grateful”.

If that’s your jam, I say to you too, go you. But if it’s not, like Collins, then hell yeah say your piece and be authentic.

I loved her confidence, I loved her attitude, I loved her brutal assessment of the situation and throwing it back at a crowd that made it their sport to put her off her game and become an added weapon on the court with their own antics.

We cry out for more characters in sport, for athletes to show more of their personality … yet smash Collins down for daring to show us hers.

You may say her comments were disrespectful, but it was really the crowd who was disrespectful. They continuously booed, jeered and shouted from the stands and let’s be honest, the first lesson you learn as a kid in sportsmanship is that you don’t boo. It was wrong.

Collins also didn’t say or do anything that we haven’t seen from male athletes for decades.

Even in this tournament, Nick Kyrgios had a go at the chair umpire in his doubles match with Thanasi Kokkinakis, Danill Medvedev went nuts smashing a net camera in a fit of rage and Jack Draper smashed his racquet to smithereens in anger.

But when a different kind of behaviour is coming from a female that’s when we go to town and really call them out from overstepping the mark.

The commentary and articles were endless … we do love a villain.

One journalist even going so far as to say “Ash Barty hates Danielle Collins”, before acknowledging “While Barty is too nice to say it as frankly as that”.

It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book to put a sportswoman in her place, pit her against another strong woman.

We’ve done it so many times in history … Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, closer to home Jana Pittman and Tamsin Lewis.

It’s a way of making sure we bring a woman down to size, “Come on! Get on the hate bandwagon guys! All your other favourite athletes are!”

Collins knows a hostile Aussie crowd, she was the opponent in the Aus Open final in 2022 when Ash Barty was crowned champion in an iconic win.

Her crime is simply that of confidence.

It’s of saying what she wants with an opinion that’s different to yours and not caring that you don’t like it or her.

You may want to push me down a peg too for writing this article. Hate on me all you want. I also don’t care.

But do me a favour. Ask yourself if you have a problem with Danielle Collins or with strong women who speak their mind.