Collins classy in Australian Open final defeat to Barty: "Ash certainly taught me a lot of things today on court"

Danielle Collins will make her debut in the top 10 next week after reaching the final of the 2022 Australian Open losing out to Ashleigh Barty.

After being swept in the first set, she came back and produced real grit and some superb play to go 5-1 up but couldn't close it out and Barty came back to sweep through in a tiebreak.

For the American though, she was classy in defeat and believes it can be a learning experience that is only beneficial.

"It's not easy going out and playing someone pretty much on their home court, on home soil, in the finals of a major, but this is what we live for in sports, right?" Collins said afterwards. "These are incredible moments that you don't get to experience very often. It was a real honor to be out there. I tried to embrace every moment, I tried to get the crowd fired up. I tried to get myself into it, did everything I could.

"That kind of stuff only helps me. Those who've watched me over the last couple of years have seen that and learned that. I love nothing more than someone doing something like that because I love competing and trying to make it fun."

For Collins though her achievement is even more special due to not having a coach to call upon and she spoke also about the toll the tournament has taken.

"I really am having to coach myself," she added. "You know, so many of the top players have a full entourage or posse and support team doing their homework for them. That's not the way it's been for me really ever in my career. I haven't worked consistently with a coach for longer than a few months. So I've had to do a lot on my own and a lot of homework, a lot of scouting, a lot of technical work. It hasn't been easy. It's been very challenging and mentally taxing at times.

"I think I went in with the right game plan. I did, again, everything I could, but unfortunately there were some things that were just not working for me. That's really hard technically, if you're not in a good place physically, to be able to get yourself to do those things.

"Today my body wasn't always agreeing with me, and I was in a little bit of a fight with my body, which is to be expected when you go this far in a tournament [..] But I'm just trying to stick with the process and do the best that I can. I'm learning a lot of things along the way. Ash certainly taught me a lot of things today on court."