Danielle Collins has opened up on her controversial clash with Maria Sakkari at the Canadian Open earlier this month, revealing her reaction to the backlash she received on social media.

World No. 34 Collins locked horns with No. 8 Maria Sakkari at the Omnium Banque National in Montreal. The American achieved a surprise victory over the Greek player to progress further into the WTA 1000 event, where she reached the quarter-final.

However, Collins' run at the tournament was remembered by many fans for an unpleasant dispute between herself and Sakkari during their match. In the second set, the latter's serve was called fault, but Collins had already hit it back across the net. As a result, a frustrated Sakkari hit the ball into the ground, but it bounced up and went into the crowd.

Collins responded to the incident by asking the chair umpire if they had seen what Sakkari had just done. However, the eighth seed argued that the ball didn't anyone.

Things then got more tense between the two players, as Collins told her opponent, "Shut your mouth. Shut your mouth." Sakkari went on to re-iterate her point while expressing confusion over what Collins' problem with her was.

Following the clash, fans were quick to take sides on social media, with many condemning Collins for the way she spoke to Sakkari.

"I would’ve lost my sh*t if someone told me to shut my mouth in a professional setting. i once quit a job on the spot because the manager told me to shut my mouth. just hung up my apron and handed over the keys and left," wrote one fan on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

The 29-year-old has now spoken out about fans' responses to the clash, claiming she was 'villainized' simply for standing up to Sakkari for almost hitting someone in the crowd.

"She almost hit someone, and I got villainized for standing up for them," she said.

Collins added that she probably would not have had the confidence to confront Sakkari a few months ago, but her coach Jared Jacobs has been helping her to become her authentic self.

"A couple months ago, I wouldn’t have done that. I would have been too worried about what other people are saying or thinking about me, or judging me," she explained, "I feel like, so much of what Jared has tried to help me with is being my authentic self, what’s important to me and my values, and not being so concerned about the things that I can’t control.

"I think that’s helped so much to put things into perspective, because it’s easy to drift away from that," she continued.