Danielle Collins has already made an exit from the 2025 AO by losing in the R3 at the hands of her compatriot Madison Keys. However, she’s still running the headlines in the tennis world! Collins first stirred a bit of controversy by teasing the crowd by blowing kisses at spectators and cupping her ears after her victory against Destanee Aiava. Later on, she shared a few comments on the whole incident during her post-match interview. We saw her even getting booed by the crowd during her match against Keys. Several tennis fans criticized Collins for her actions! However, interestingly, 10-time AO champion Novak Djokovic showed support for the American. What are fans’ take on that, now?

After all these happenings in the last few days, we heard Danielle Collins say that she was just having fun while playing the villain at the AO. She said that the boos helped her focus despite defeat to Madison Keys. What were some of her controversial comments after her R2 match against Aiava? Well apart from her bizarre post-match gestures towards the crowd, Collins was also seen poking fun at them by saying, “Good luck trying to get under the skin of somebody who really doesn’t care. I loved it (fighting the crowd) … I’m going to be out here for two and a half hours and putting up with all these people – I might as well just take the bigger paycheck, right.“

Not only that, she further added, “One of the greatest things about being a professional athlete is the people that don’t like you and the people that hate you – they actually pay your bills. Every person that’s bought a ticket to come out here and heckle me, or do what they do … it’s all going towards the ‘Danielle Collins Fund.’ So bring it on, I love it.” Novak Djokovic also had to face some hecklers during his previous match against Tomas Machac. So, shortly after winning the R3 match against the Czech star, he was asked to share his thoughts on Collins’ reactions.

In reply to that question, Novak Djokovic said that he “loved her response.” Now after hearing this, some of the fans have come out in numbers to expose the Serb’s hypocrisy surrounding these types of controversies on the tennis court. What are they relating it to, though? Well, some of the fans have now started to highlight a controversial moment from his SF match against America’s Ben Shelton at the 2023 US Open. The Serb was clearly not happy with Shelton’s on-court behavior.

Seeing him pouring love on Collins’ response, made the fans say, “Novak saying he’s a fan of Danielle but saying that Ben is disrespectful 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄.” What are the other fans saying on this topic, though?

Tennis fans defending Ben Shelton by highlighting Novak Djokovic’s hypocrisy about the on-court behavior

What really happened in 2023? Well, at that time during the US Open, Ben Shelton made a lot of noise through his unique ‘dialed-in’ celebration following his victories on his run to the maiden Grand Slam SF in his career. However, in the SF, we saw Novak Djokovic controversially imitating the American’s celebration after defeating him in that epic encounter. When asked if there were any specific reasons behind this, Novak Djokovic had initially said that he liked Shelton’s celebration, so he copied it.

However, later on during an interview with L’Equipe, Novak Djokovic said, “It was a reaction against [Shelton]. He did not behave properly, with respect, on court, and before the match. If anyone one places himself in the unsportsmanlike zone, I react.” Now, after seeing his reactions to Collins’ recent on-court behavior some of the fans tweeted, “Ben is the nicest guy. Unfortunately, here Novak is biased. Not good.“

After that incident at the 2023 US Open, Ben Shelton’s father, Bryan Shelton said, “He wanted to mock Ben at the end. It wasn’t something he was doing just to copy Ben. It was to mock him. And that’s too bad, for that to come from such a great champion.” Highlighting that previous incident and relating it with his comments on Danielle Collins’ actions, another fan also gave a nod to the tweet highlighting the Serb’s hypocrisy by saying, “Good point.“

What else did Novak Djokovic say about Danielle Collins’ response which led to this controversy? Well, the Serb said, “I loved her response. I loved everything she said on the court and off the court. Big fan of Danielle Collins after that. I was before, but now, big fan. I love it.” He further added, “I mean, I heard some comments from people that she shouldn’t have said that or that. I think she handled it really well. I don’t think I would be that polite, but then I know exactly the feeling. So, I think she was funny, smart, and just… big fan of what she did.“

After seeing these comments another fan tweeted, “Touch of narcissism there from Djokovic in that logic.” Danielle Collins’ reaction has drawn reactions from quite a few in the tennis world. For example, Patrick McEnroe said, “For me obviously Danielle had every right to be enjoyed. I thought it was sort of humorous how she handled it…So I think in some sense it’s good for tennis that you have characters like that..” Others like Channel 9 sportscaster Tony Jones took a dig at Collins saying, “My view is she’s (Collins) a brat.“

So, different minds, different opinions but it’s Novak Djokovic’s comments which stirred the controversy the most! Talking about controversies, well Ben Shelton recently made a controversial comment after his match against Lorenzo Musetti. He heaped praise on the Italian saying he’s one of the most “talented” players on the Tour, but at the same time he raised a few eyebrows when he said that his motivation to win was fueled by not wanting Musetti to have a third consecutive win over him and the player who has three wins over the player is called their “daddy.” Keeping all these amusing comments aside, another failed shared his opinion saying, “Ben’s literally the nicest dude.“

Then reacting to Novak Djokvic’s comments on both Ben Shelton and Danielle Collins’ on-court behavior another fan felt, the Serb might be a bit “jealous.” The fan wrote, “I was literally thinking the same thing, he’s just jealous probably 😋.” Do you agree with Novak Djokovic’s comments on Danielle Collins’ reactions? Share your thoughts in the comment box.